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UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

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:i.3tory  of  the  Private,  Political 
And  Official  Vlllanles  of 
Fernando  Wood 

_A t :!  j  a  h  I  ngrcru 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


-^AA^«*«ifc 


.li^, 


A.    HISTORY 


07    THB 


PRIVATE,   POLITICAI,   AND   OFFICIAL 
VILLANIES 


07 


FERNANDO     WOOD. 


To  Bkown,  Bkothebs  &  Co., 
Goodhue  &  Co., 
George  Douglass, 
E.  L.  &  A.  Stuakt, 
Jacob  Little, 
Schuyler  Livingston, 
Matthew  Morgan, 
E.  H.  "Winslo-w, 
Eoyal  Phelps, 
Decoppet  &  Co., 
Fletcher  Harper, 
WsL  H.  Macy, 
L.  C.  Clark, 
Thomas  Small  &  Sons, 


T.  F.  Bulklet, 
Wm.  B.  Astor, 
Moses  Taylor, 
Watts  Sherman 
Wm.  H.  Cary, 
A.  B.  Neilson, 
George  Newbold, 
Charles  A,  Morgan, 
David  Ogden, 

COURTLANDT  PALMEB, 

Daniel  Drevt, 
Israel  Corse, 
Horace  Waldo, 
E.  M,  Young. 


Gentlemen  : 

There  is  not  an  individual,  nor  any  number  of  individuals  in  this  great  commer- 
cial metropolis,  to  whom  we  could  with  greater  propriety  dedicate  this  work  than 
yourselves.  You  are  ardent  and  zealous  in  the  advancement  of  the  commercial 
interests  of  our  city,  and  of  the  whole  Union,  and  must  deeply  deplore  every  cir- 
cumstance that  tends  to  retard  mercantile  enterprise.  You  are  careful  to  uphold 
the  true  dignity  of  your  profession,  and  to  encourage  the  legitimate  exercise  of  ita 
duties.  Most  of  you  are  known  extensively  as  men  of  fortune,  whose  wealth 
equals  that  of  princes,  and  your  munificence,  liberality  and  charity  have  been  on 
a  scale  as  magnificent  as  the  fortune  you  have  acquired.  It  is,  or  should  be,  the 
pride  of  your  Ufe  that  you  have  amassed  wealth  by  honest  enterprise  and  upright 


2  DEDICATION. 

dealing,  and  not  by  fraud  and  oppression.  We  believe  each  of  you  have  a  reputa- 
tion for  integrity  in  business,  and  would  positively  refuse  to  employ,  even  in  the 
humblest  capacity,  in  your  mercantile  establishments,  or  other  places  of  business,  a 
man  who  had  been  guilty  of  the  grossest  frauds  in  the  transaction  of  mercantile 
affairs.  You  would  certamly  refuse  to  become  associated  with,  or  to  admit  as  a 
partner  in  your  business,  a  man  who  had,  in  a  former  partnership,  plundered  his 
partner  in  every  possible  way  that  his  ingenuity  could  devise,  and  whose  frauds 
had  been  proven  beyond  a  possibility  of  doubt. 

Entertaining  this  opinion,  we  have  dedicated  this  pamphlet  to  you.  "We  wish 
you  to  peruse  it  candidly ;  and  we  the  more  expressly  desire  you  to  do  so,  because 
we  observe  in  the  public  papers,  of  a  recent  date,  that  you  have  voluntarily  urged 
the  present  Mayor  of  this  city  to  consent  to  a  reelection.  The  individual  you  thus 
have  honored  with  your  approbation  is  the  hero  of  these  pages.  He,  too,  has  been 
a  merchant,  and  we  have  faithfully  portrayed  his  admirable  qualifications  for  mer- 
cantile pursuits.  You  have  recommended  him  for  Mayor,  though  not  one  of  you 
would  consent  to  employ  him  in  your  counting-house,  when  his  true  character 
becomes  known  to  you.  "We  are  ignorant  of  the  influences  that  have  controlled 
your  action  in  this  matter.  If,  as  men  of  great  wealth,  you  expect  to  give  direction 
to  public  sentiment  in  the  politics  of  the  city,  in  the  movement  you  have  made, 
you  will  find  that  you  have  been  mistaken. 

We  shall  print  for  your  special  perxisal,  20,000  copies  of  this  pamphlet,  and  at 
least  three  times  that  number  for  the  60,000  mechanics,  artisans,  and  laboring 
classes  of  this  city,  who  have  at  least  as  deep  an  interest  in  the  election  of  honest 
public  officials  as  the  28  merchants  to  whom  we  have  dedicated  this  work,  or  the 
"  83  OTHERS,"  who,  it  is  alleged,  have  joined  you  in  the  urgent  request  that  the 
present  Mayor  would  consent  to  a  reelection. 

Bt  the  Author. 


F 
INTRODUCTION 


In  the  following  pages  will  be  found  a  brief  history  of  a  series  of  mercantile 
frauds  and  villanies,  and  political  and  official  wrongs,  of  the  present  Mayor  of  New- 
Tork.    In  recording  them,  we  have  not  gone  beyond  the  most  imdoubted  and  in- 
contestable proof  of  their  existence.    We  have  not  stated  a  fact,  drawn  an  infer- 
■v        enoe,  or  even  imagined  a  single  circumstance  that  has  not  been  proven  by  testimony 
A^    as  strong  as  ever  was  given  in  a  court  of  justice,  and  by  men  of  as  fair  characters 
for  truth  and  veracity,  as  ever  were  engaged  in  business  in  our  city.    The  alleged 
frauds  of  Fernando  Wood,  are  proven  beyond  a  possibihty  of  doubt.    They  stand 
on  record,  never  to  be  effaced.     No  rebutting  testimony  has  shaken  the  belief  of 
A  )        any  of  the  men  who  have  investigated  them  legally.    They  are  proven  as  plain  aa 
^<.        the  sun  of  heaven  at  noonday,  in  an  unclouded  sky,  both  by  direct  and  circum- 
stantial evidence.    No  rogue  ever  resided  within  the  walls  of  a  State  prison,  or  ever 
\(        will,  who  was  convicted  of  forgery  by  more  unmistakable  evidence,  than  that 
S        which  was  given  to  prove  that  Fernando  Wood  exhibited  to  Ed.  E.  Marviue,  a 
^        fraudulent  or  forged  biU  of  sale  of  the  barque  John  W.  Cater,  and  a  forged  letter 
A       purporting  to  have  been  received  from  T.  0.  Larkin  of  California.    Yet  Fernando 
Wood  swore  that  such  a  charge  against  him  was  untrue  I     We  will  not  argue  what 
V       constitutes  perjury  in  the  legal  sense  of  the  term,  but  no  one  can  doubt,  after  read- 
ing this  pamphlet,  and  investigating  the  case  for  himself  that  in  a  moral  sense, 
Wood  is  guilty  of  both  forgery  and  perjury  1 

The  perpetrator  of  these  frauds  is  now  Mayor  of  this  great  commercial  city,  and  a 
candidate  for  reelection.  His  friends  will  again  appeal  to  the  voters  of  this  city 
for  support.  He  has  the  whole  of  the  vast  patronage  of  the  city  governmeiit  to 
aid  him,  and  no  one  knows  how  to  i:ise  this  power  more  adroitly.  What  a  sad  com- 
mentary upon  the  mercantile  enterprise,  business  character,  intelligence,  and  integ- 
rity of  our  people,  his  reelection  to  the  mayoralty  would  be  I  Those  who  supported 
him  when  ignorant  of  his  frauds,  may  be  excused.  But  now,  when  these  villanies 
^     are  proven,  they  can  have  no  excuse  for  giving  him  their  sup'port. 

If  he,  or  those  who  may  still  believe  hun  an  honest  man,  feel  aggrieved  at  the 
following  statement  of  facta,  there  is  now  time  before  the  election  to  show  its  falsity. 
If  they  can  not  do  this,  as  honest  men,  having  a  desire  to  promote  pubhc  and  pri- 
vate moraUty,  and  preserve  the  reputation  of  our  city,  they  will  use  every  honora- 
ble effort  to  defeat  his  election. 

What  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  trade  of  our  city,  were  all,  or  even  a  majority 
of  our  merchants,  shown  to  be  as  devoid  of  mercantile  integrity  as  Fernando 
Wood  ?  Or  what  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  politics  of  our  city,  if  all,  or  a  ma- 
jority of  our  leading  politicians  were  proven  to  be  as  corrupt  in  business,  private 
or  official,  as  Mayor  Wood  ?  No  people  can  long  preserve  a  reputation  for  integ- 
Btf  ,  and  no  government  can  long  be  popular,  where  the  perpetrators  of  such  frauds 

200940 


^ 


4  IHTEODUCrnON. 

as  those  charged  and  proven  agwnst  our  Mayor,  are  elected  to  the  highest  offlcea. 
To  suppose  the  reverse  of  this,  is  to  admit  that  the  majority  of  the  voters  are  cor- 
rupt, or  too  ignorant  to  exercise  the  franchise  with  safety  to  the  pubUc  welfare. 
We  hope  it  will  be  long  before  this  admission  can  be  truthiully  made  in  any  part  of 
this  great  and  free  repubUc. 

High  political  excitement  oftentimes  leads  to  a  close  adhesion  to  party  nomina- 
tions ;  and  the  immense  patronage  of  our  city  government,  including  a  control  over 
the  entire  police  force,  wielded  by  a  tyrant  hand,  may  force  a  nomination  of  the 
most  corrupt  man  in  the  community.  But  we  think  the  pubUc  mind  will  be 
aroused  against  Fernando  "Wood,  to  such  an  extent,  that  he  will  fail  in  his  reelec- 
tion.   His  true  diaracter  will  be  portrayed  so  vividly  that  he  can  not  succeed. 

When  a  candidate  in  1854,  he  sought  interviews  with  many  whom  he  had  a 
right  to  suppose  would  oppose  him,  as  they  knew  much  of  his  real  character,  and 
of  the  alleged  frauds  charged  upon  him.  He  endeavored  to  persuade  them  that  he 
had  been  unjustly  accused ;  but  when  finding  that  he  could  make  no  impression  on 
their  minds  in  this  direction,  he  then  appealed  to  them  for  forgiveness,  and  sohcited 
them  to  give  him  an  opportunity  to  redeem  his  character  through  his  election  to 
the  mayoralty.  He  stated,  in  some  instances,  that  he  sought  this  high  position 
chiefly  to  remove,  by  his  good  conduct  in  official  position,  the  deep  prejudices  that 
existed  against  him.  This  appeal  induced  some  to  support  him,  who  otherwise 
would  not  have  done  so.  When  arrayed  against  a  single  opponent.  Wood  was 
easily  beaten,  as  was  the  case  in  1850,  when  he  was  beaten  by  several  thousand 
votes.  But  he  saw  in  the  mayoralty  contest,  in  1854,  that  there  would  be  several 
candidates,  and  that  if  he  could  get  the  endorsement  of  the  Democracy,  or  of  the 
Seymour  party,  he  could  slip  in  by  a  plurality  vote.  He  was  right  in  his  calcula- 
tion. 

But  what  effort  did  he  make  to  redeem  his  character  after  he  was  elected  ?  His 
policy  at  first  was  to  be  bold,  and  seemingly  honest,  Napoleonic  m  the  style  of  his 
pubUc  documents.  But  no  sooner  had  he  begun  to  get  the  good  opinion  of  some 
who  had  opposed  his  election,  than  he  found  it  convenient,  and  to  his  interest,  to 
take  a  stroll  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sunken  ship  Joseph  Walker,  Ijdng  at  the 
slip,  foot  of  Dover  Street,  in  which  entombed  craft  he  imagined  he  saw  a  second 
John  W.  Cater.  The  first  draft  he  made  on  the  city  treasury,  on  account  of  this 
sunken  treasure,  was  a  contract  with  his  fiiend  Jones  to  raise  her,  for  the  snug  httle 
sum  of  $13,000 1  He  succeeded  in  getting  a  greater  part  of  this  amount  out  of  the 
treasury,  when  the  press  got  hold  of  the  matter,  and  further  drafts  on  this  account 
were  dishonored-  But  his  fPiend  Jones  got  some  seven  or  eight  thousand  dollars  on 
this  fraudulent  contract 

This  showed  that  the  express  desire  to  reform,  when  once  in  the  Mayoralty 
chair,  was  a  mere  pretense  for  the  perpetration  of  other  fiuuds,  if  possible  on  a  more 
gigantic  scale,  where  the  city  treasury,  much  larger  than  Marvine's  capital,  held  the 
plunder.  His  whole  conduct  while  Mayor,  has  shown  that  he  is  the  same  identi- 
cal Fernando  Wood,  who  converted  a  bill  of  75  cents,  into  $100.75,  and  rendered 
it  to  his  partner,  thus  fraudulently  altered,  and  received  the  one  half  of  the  fraudu- 
lent amount  from  him  in  the  final  settlement  of  their  accounts.  He  is  still  the 
game  Fernando  Wood — grown  probably  more  bold  in  villainy,  by  having  the  people's 
endorsement  for  the  mayoralty — that  he  was  when  he  exhibited  a  forged  biU  of 
sale  for  the  barque  John  W.  Cater,  by  which  he  plundered  his  partner  out  of 
$4000 1  Elevation  to  high  official  position,  has  about  the  same  effect  upon  his 
moral  nature,  as  the  sight  of  a  fat  pullet  does  upon  the  physical  propensities  and 
appetite  of  a  hungry  fos.    Such  is  the  character  of  Fernando  Wood,  the  Mayor  of 


FIRST  NOMINATION — DEFEAT.  5 

New-York,  aa  ■will  be  conclusively  shovm  in  what  follows.  Read,  and  then  say 
whether  he  ia  persecuted,  or  whether  he  stands  condemned  of  the  perpetration  of 
the  grossest  frauds  in  private  business  affairs,  and  in  his  official  career.  The  cry  of 
persecution  will  not  avail  now.  Here  aje  the  charges,  and  the  evidence  of 
their  truth ;  they  must  stand  until  shown  to  be  false. 

The  acts  of  a  public  man  are  properly  subjects  of  close  scrutiny.  His  general 
character  for  honesty  and  fair  dealing  may  be  properly  referred  to  when  up  for  office, 
or  when  holding  one.  A  man  who  will  aid  in  the  elevation  to  office,  of  such  a  man 
as  we  have  represented  Mayor  Wood  to  be,  is  a  dangerous  citizen.  It  is,  therefore, 
the  duty  of  every  man  to  satisfy  himself  whether  we  have  charged  him  wrongfully 
or  whether  we  have  told  the  truth.  We^have  simply  stated  the  irresistible  convic- 
tions of  our  own  mind,  and,  we  feel  assured,  those  of  the  mind  of  every  man  who 
has  been  engaged  in  the  investigation  of  the  legal  proceedings  which  have  been 
instituted  in  the  cases  referred  to  in  this  pamphlet.  We  feel  satisfied  that  no  can- 
did mind  can  come  to  any  other  conclusion  than  that  to  which  we  have  arrived,  if 
they  will  investigate  the  matter. 


HISTORY. 


^ 


WOOD'S   FIBST   NOMINATION   FOB   MATOB   IN   1850 -HIS   DEFEAT. 

In  1850,  Fernando  Wood  became  a  candidate  for  the  Mayoralty.  On  the  eve  of 
the  election,  there  was  sent  to  the  office  of  one  of  our  city  papers  an  astounding 
document,  a  copy  of  a  complaint  made  by  the  assignees  of  Edward  E.  Marvine,  li 
a  suit  then  pending  in  the  Superior  Court  in  this  city,  in  which  Fernando  Wood  was 
defendant.  In  this  complaint  Wood  was  charged  with  gross  frauds  upon  Marvine, 
perpetrated  during  a  partnership  that  existed  between  them  in  1848-9.  The 
proprietor  of  the  paper  to  which  a  copy  of  this  complaint  had  been  sent,  refused  to 
publish  the  document,  unless  he  could  be  satisfied  of  its  general  truth.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  many  of  the  alleged  frauds  perpetrated  by  Wood  were  easily  examined. 
Documents  were  placed  in  possession  of  the  proprietor  of  the  paper,  and  several  of 
the  merchants,  of  whom  Wood  had  purchased  goods  on  account  of  the  partnership, 
were  visited,  and  the  bills  which  Wood  had  rendered  his  partner  were  compared 
with  the  books  of  the  merchants,  when  it  was  found  that  the  grossest  frauds  had 
been  committed.  Being  thus  fiiUy  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  the  alleged  frauds,  the 
complaint  against  Wood  was  published,  with  strong  editorial  comments.  Though 
Wood  was  defeated  badly  for  the  Mayoralty,  many  voted  for  him  who  would 
not  had  they  believed  the  charges  against  him.  They  were  made  on  the  eve  of 
the  election,  and  many,  therefore,  doubted  as  to  their  truth. 

Mr.  Wood  managed  to  keep  this  case  in  court  until  he  again  became  a  candidate 
for  the  Mayoralty  in  1854.  Then,  too,  the  charges  were  reiterated  in  one  of  our 
city  papers,  but,  unfortunately,  their  pubhcation  was  again  deferred  until  within  a 
day  or  two  of  the  election.  Though  much  proof  of  the  alleged  frauds  then  existed, 
they  were  published  in  a  paper  not  read  by  the  masses,  and,  therefore,  did  not  have 
that  extensive  circulation  they  should  have  had.  This  time,  although  Wood  ran 
several  thousand  behind  his  ticket,  there  were  so  many  opposing  candidates  to  di- 
vide his  opponents,  that  he  sUpped  into  the  Mayoralty  chair  by  a  small  plurality. 
The  Seymour  ticket  was  popular,  aa  we  all  remember,  and  Wood  was  adroit  enough 


6  SECEET  POLITICAL   MASKED    OKGANIZATIONS. 

to  identify  himself  with  the  success  of  that  ticket,  and  was  consequently  elected. 
His  ofiBcial  career  while  Mayor  will  be  reviewed  by  one  competent  to  perform  the 
task.  It  is  now  being  prepared  for  publication.  The  following  pages  relate  more 
particularly  to  the  deep  villainy  of  Fernando  Wood  in  those  relations  of  life 
where  honor  and  integrity  shine  with  pecuhar  lustre,  and  where  villainy  has  eveu 
a  blacker  aspect  than  when  practised  in  official  positions. 


THE   BEORET   FOLmCAL   MASKED    OBGANIZAnONS  GOT  XTP  B7  UATOB 

WOOD. 

It  is  now  about  twenty  years  ago  when  Fernando  "Wood  first  became  an  aspir- 
ing and  ambitious  politician  in  this  city.  In  1840,  he  succeeded  in  being  nomi- 
nated and  elected  to  Congress.  For  the  purpose  of  securing  the  nomination,  he 
organized  a  secret  political  association,  composed  of  five  members  from  each  ward. 
Tliis  secret  body  met  at  No.  44  Chatham  street,  and  all  the  members  wore  masks, 
and  were  sworn  to  the  most  profound  secrecy.  The  form  of  the  oath  is  now  in  pos- 
session of  Mayor  Wood,  and  is  drawn  up  in  language  something  resembling  the 
oath  which  Morgan  had  published  as  that  taken  by  Masons,  a  few  years  before  our 
"  model"  Mayor  came  to  this  city  to  reside.  The  initiatory  oath  of  this  masked  as- 
sociation was  comparatively  harmless  to  the  one  tpJcon  just  before  the  candidate 
entered  tlie  inner  temple  at  44  Chatham  street.  The  candidate  for  admission  was 
blindfolded  when  he  entered  the  room.  His  mask  was  so  constructed  that  all  was 
total  darkness  to  him.  All  that  transpired  at  these  meetings  were  kept  a  most 
profound  secret.  Those  who  spoke  disguised  their  voice  so  that  they  should  not  bo 
recognized. 

Several  of  our  most  respected  and  influential  citizens  were  induced  to  join  this 
masked  secret  organization,  believing  that  the  interests  of  the  Democratic  party 
were  the  object.  Men  of  means  were  placed  on  the  Finance  and  other  important 
Committees. 

Two  of  the  five  members  from  each  ward  were  chosen  to  organize  other  asso- 
ciations in  the  city.  For  this  purpose  they  were  associated  with  three  persons 
from  each  ward,  not  members  of  the  association,  and  en*;ircly  ignorant  of  the  exist- 
ence of  such  a  secret  masked  body.  By  these  means  a  groat  variety  of  associa- 
tions were  formed,  all  of  which  were  controlled  by  the  central,  secret,  ma.sked 
body,  of  which  Fernando  Wood  was  the  originator. 

The  machinery  was  all  in  perfect  order,  and  the  design  was  to  control  all  the 
nominations  of  the  party  in  the  city.  It  operated  with  a  power  unseen  and  unfolt 
by  all  the  outsiders  in  the  party.  Wlien  Tammany  Hall  opened  its  doors  to  the 
nominating  convention  chosen  by  this  secret,  masked  organization,  so  admirably 
■was  every  thing  arranged,  that  on  the  first  ballot  for  members  of  Assembly,  of 
which  there  were  thirteen,  chosen  by  general  ticket,  twelve  were  nominated  nearly 
unanimous ;  and  the  other  candidate  of  this  masked  organization  was  nominated 
on  the  next  ballot.  Wood  was  nominated  for  Congress,  and  nearly  every  man  that 
he  desired  was  successful.  The  outside  Democrats  could  not  tell  how  the  thing 
was  done,  nor  who  did  it.    But  it  was  done. 

At  the  head  of  this  singular  organization  was  the  man  who  is  now  Mayor  of  the 
city,  and  who  asks  to  be  reelected.  Several  persons  joined  it  without  knowing  or 
supposing  that  so  many  ridiculous  features  marked  an  entrance  to  it,  or  that  its  ob- 
ject was  to  give  Fernando  Wood  the  power  to  make  all  the  nommations.  Many, 
when  they  found  out  the  object,  were  disgusted,  and  \vithdrew. 

A  similar  association,  except  the  masks,  was  recently  organized  by  the  Mayor 
to  compel  his  renomination,  and  also  to  control  every  nomination  made  or  to  be 
made  by  the  Democratic  party  this  Fall.  In  this  association  none  were  admitted 
but  those  who  were  the  friends  of  the  Mayor,  and  many  of  them  were  his  appoint- 
ees to  office,  and  quito  a  number  members  of  the  police,  a  body  of  men  which  the 
Mayor  has  publicly  avowed  should  not  mingle  or  take  an  active  part  in  the  politics 
of  the  city.  In  this  movement  the  Mayor  has  so  far  been  successful,  although  he 
has  called  forth  an  opposition  in  the  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party  that  bids  fair 
10  iosure  hia  defeat  at  the  x>ollfl. 


THE  CELEBBATED  PARTNERSHIP  FRAUDS.  7 

THE  CELEBR&.TED  PARTNERSHIP  FR&TTDS  OF  OTTR  "MODEL"  MAYOE- 
THE  MAR  VINE  CASE— A  FORGED  BILL  OF  SALE— TWO  FORGED  LETTERS 
—A  SCORE  AND  MORE  OF  FRIUDULEHT  ALTERATIONS  OF  BILLS  AND 
VOUCHERS— UNPARALLELED  VILLAIN7  IN  MERCANTILE  LIFE. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1848,  Fernando  Wood  designed  sending  to  Califor- 
nia a  quantity  of  merchandise.  The  gold  discoveries  on  the  Pacific  coast  were 
then  just  beginning  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  our  merchants  and  others,  and  Mr. 
Wood  designed  to  be  among  the  first  to  make  his  fortune  in  the  California  trade. 
Not  being  overstocked  with  cash  at  that  period  of  his  life,  he  very  naturally  looked 
about  him  to  find  pecuniary  means  to  aid  in  the  enterprise.  He  thought  of  his 
friend  Edward  E.  Marvine,  then  residing  in  this  city,  who  had  been  an  old  mer- 
chant, had  retired  from  busmess  many  years,  was  worth  about  $100,000,  and  had 
good  credit  with  merchants  who  knew  him.  Between  "Wood  and  Marvine  there 
existed  a  relationship,  and  a  warm  personal  friendship.  Under  these  circum- 
stances our  hero,  the  present  Mayor  of  New-York,  wended  his  way  one  evening, 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1848,  to  the  residence  of  Marvine,  then  Uving  in  one 
of  our  up-town  streets.  He  briefly  opened  upon  the  object  of  his  visit,  but  was 
told  that,  in  consequence  of  some  friends  who  had  called  that  evening  to  see  Mr. 
Marvine  on  a  social  visit,  some  other  opportunity  must  be  embraced  by  Mr.  Wood 
to  develop  more  fully  his  scheme  of  making  a  fortune  in  the  California  trade.  The 
time  and  place  for  a  second  interview  was  agreed  upon.  At  this  interview  Mr. 
Wood  was  fully  prepared  with  a  glowing  statement,  proving  conclusively  that  if 
Marvine  would  join  him  in  the  enterprise,  a  large  fortune  would  surely  result.  To 
convmce  Marvine  of  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  ho  showed  a  letter  purporting  to 
be  from  T.  0.  Larkin,  then  residing  in  California  in  the  capacity  of  government 
agent.  In  this  letter  Mr.  Wood  was  strongly  urged  to  send  out  a  quantity  of  mer- 
chandise to  California*  Accompanying  the  letter  was  a  memorandum  which 
named  many  of  the  articles  that  should  be  sent  as  most  suitable  to  the  market  at 
that  time.  In  this  letter,  which  was  dated  in  July,  1848,  it  was  stated  that  the 
pretended  writer,  Mr.  T.  O.  Larkin,  was  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Wood,  for  import- 
ant favors  shown  him,  and  that  he  would  liie  an  opportunity  to  return  those 
favors,  and  that  this  was  the  first  time  he  had  had  the  means  to  repay  the  obHga- 
tion.  Mr.  Wood  was  urged  in  this  forged  letter  to  ship  some  $10,000  worth  of 
goods  to  the  CalLfornia  market,  and  he  was  told  in  it  that  he  would  realize 
§100,000  profit  on  the  shipment. 

At  that  time  Mr.  Marvine  had  no  reason  to  beheve  that  this  letter  was  a  forged 
document,  got  up  by  Wood  to  induce  him  to  enter  into  partnership  with  Mm. 
But  such  was  its  real  character  I  Marvine  confided  in  the  truth  of  the  represent- 
ations made  by  Wood,  and  acceded  to  the  proposal  of  partnership. 

But  before  the  partnership  agreement  was  drawn  up,  Mr.  Wood  desired  to  per- 
petrate another  fraud  on  Marvine.  He  had  purchased  an  old  barque,  the  "  John 
W.  Cater,"  for  $4000.  He  proposed  that  Marvine  should  purchase  the  one  half  of 
this  barque,  and  that  the  goods  for  the  California  market  should  be  shipped  in  her. 
He  stated  that  the  barque  cost  him  $12,000,  and  that  he  had  just  paid  that 
amount  for  her  in  cash.  He  said  he  would  sell  to  Marvine  the  one  hdf  of  said 
barque  for  $6000.  Not  finding  Mr.  Marvine  so  ready  and  desirous  to  purchase  the 
one  half  of  the  barque  as  he  supposed,  and  fearing  that  the  reason  of  liis  hesitation 
arose  from  some  "doubts  about  the  value  of  the  vessel,  or  as  to  the  price  Wood  sad 
he  paid  for  it,  he,  Wood,  invented  a  plan  to  remove  these  supposed  objections. 
To  do  this  it  was  necessary  to  introduce  another  forged  document,  in  the  shape  of 
a  bm  of  sale,  purporting  to  be  the  original  instrument  by  which  the  barque  had 
been  conveyed  to  Wood,  by  its  former  owners.  In  this  forged  bill  of  sale  the  cost 
price  of  the  barque  was  stated  at  $12,000,  and  her  age  not  over  eleven  years.  Not 
tor  a  moment  supposing  that  Wood  had  prepared  a  false  bill  of  sale,  Marvine  pm-- 
chased  the  one  half  of  said  barque,  at  the  price  of  $6000. 

These  preliminaries  being  settled,  the  partnership  agreement  was  drawn  up  and 
signed.  In  this  agreement,  the  sale  and  purchase  of  one  half  of  the  barque,  the 
price  paid  for  it,  and  the  manner  of  payment,  were  described.  The  parties  also 
agreed  to  purchase  $20,000  worth  of  goods  to  be  shipped  on  board  of  her,  each 


8  THK  MABVINB   CASK. 

party  paying  $10,000.  It  waa  further  agreed  that  "Wood  should  make  all  the 
purchases,  keep  a  correct  account  of  their  cost,  and  of  all  the  disbursements,  and 
also  the  receipts  of  such  moneys  as  may  have  been  derived  from  passengers  before 
the  departure  of  the  barque.  When  the  goods  were  sold  the  returns  were  to  be 
equally  divided  between  the  parties,  so  soon  as  they  could  be  received  in  this  city. 
Afterwards,  it  was  agreed  to  increase  the  goods  shipped  from  $20,000  to  $26,000. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  agreement  between  the  parties,  brought  about 
entirely  by  the  false  representations  and  forged  documents  oxliibited  by  Wood. 

The  barque  was  laden,  and  she  sailed  on  the  19th  day  of  October,  1848.  Mr. 
Wood,  two  days  afterwards,  rendered  to  Marvine  an  account  of  the  disbursements 
which  had  been  made  under  the  agreement,  for  fitting  out  the  cargo  of  said  vessel, 
and  for  the  purchase  of  the  ship's  stores  and  supplies.  This  balance-sheet,  or 
account,  was  prepared  by  Wood  himself,  in  his  own  hand-writing,  and  to  which 
he  appended  his  name.  At  the  time  he  rendered  this  accoimt  he  also  furnished  to 
Marvine  the  original  bills,  invoices,  and  vouchers,  taken  from  the  parties  of  whom 
purchases  had  been  made,  and  to  whom  the  barque  had  become  indebted.  These 
original  bills  and  vouchers  corresponded  with  the  accoxmt  rendered  by  Wood.  Be- 
lieving all  to  be  correct,  Marvine  settled  with  Wood.  He  did  not  then  suppose 
that  Wood  had  with  his  own  hand  altered  nearly  every  one  of  the  bills.  He  saw 
interlineations  and  alterations  in  the  bills,  which  changes  appeared  to  have  been 
made  in  Wood's  own  handwriting,  but  he  was  not  then  prepared  to  believe  that 
Fernando  Wood  could  have  actually  perpetrated  such  a  wholesale  forgery  of 
accounts.  Wood  asserted  that  all  the  vouchers  and  bills  were  original,  made  out 
by  the  parties  to  whom  he  paid  moneys  on  account  of  the  joint  enterprise,  and  so 
Marvine  paid  one  half  of  the  account  rendered. 

But  after  this  settlement  suspicions  began  to  harass  the  mind  of  Marvine,  that  all 
waa  not  right.  He  exhibited  these  bills  and  vouchers  to  a  mercantile  friend ; 
true  copies  of  them  were  prepared,  and  these  copies  had  placed  on  them  the 
initials  of  his  friend.  Marvine  began  to  inquire  of  the  merchants  and  others  to 
whom  the  barque  had  become  indebted.  On  the  very  threshold  of  this  inquiry 
there  was  unfolded  to  his  view  a  systematic  series  of  frauds,  forgeries,  and  villanies, 
without  a  parcllel  in  the  history  of  mercantile  partnerships.  The  bills  and 
vouchers  rendered  by  Wood  to  Marvine  were  in  many  instances  ^pore  than  double 
in  amount  of  the  actual  price  paid  for  them  I  Bills  were  rendered,  as  it  afterwards 
appeared,  fbr  goods  never  shipped,  or  never  put  on  board  of  the  barque.  In  a  few 
words,  the  true  bills  were  horribly  mutilated  by  Wood,  in  a  manner  clearly  show- 
ing that  he  had  no  other  object  in  view  than  that  of  swindling  his  partner. 

Ailer  various  ineffectual  efforts  to  settle  the  matter  with  Wood,  a  suit  was  insti- 
tuted in  the  Superior  Court,  fOr  the  recovery  of  some  six  or  seven  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  about  the  extent  of  the  frauds  or  overcharges  that  Marvine  had  then 
discovered.  It  was  subsequently  agreed  to  refer  the  matter,  and  the  Court 
appointed  three  referees  to  try  the  case.  It  is  but  recently  that  the  referees  gave 
&  unanimous  decision  against  Wood;  judgment  and  costs  amounting  to  about 
$15,000,  about  the  one  half  of  which  is  costs.  The  case  was  decided  against 
Wood  on  every  point,  by  evidence  so  clear  and  convincing  that  none  could  doubt. 
During  the  investigation,  other  frauds  of  Wood,  not  previously  known  to  Marvine, 
were  developed.  But  as  he  had  not  included  them  in  his  original  complaint,  and 
as  they  formed  no  part  of  the  pleadings,  he  could  not  be  benefited  by  the  new 
developments  of  fl^ud  and  forgery  on  the  trial  before  the  referees.    . 

Now,  the  reader  may  naturally  ask,  Where  is  your  proof  of  these  astounding 
facts,  frauds,  or  forgeries  ?  We  must  give  enough  of  this  proof  to  satisfy  any  fair 
man.  To  give  the  whole  case  would  occupy  at  least  some  three  hundred  pages  of 
the  size  of  those  in  this  pamphlet.  But  we  will  give  enough  of  it  to  remove  all 
doubt  from  the  mind  of  the  reader,  as  to  the  forgeries  and  perjuries  of  Fernando 
Wood,  the  present  Mayor  of  New- York. 

Wliat  was  the  first  allegation  of  fraud  in  this  matter  ?  From  the  ploadrngs 
which  are  sworn  to  by  both  parties,  and  which  are  composed  of  the  plaintiffs'  com- 
plaint, and  the  answer  of  the  defendant,  we  find  that  it  is  alleged  on  the  part  of 
the  plaintiffs,  that  Wood,  in  order  to  induce  Marvine  to  become  his  partner,  ex- 
hibited a  forged  letter,  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  T.  0.  Larkm,  of  Ceilifor- 
nia.    Wood  denies  thia,  under  oath,  in  liis  answer. 


EXTEACTS  FROM  TESTIMONY.  -0 

Now,  if  some  four  or  five  respectable  men  come  upon  the  stand  and  swear  that 
"Wood  exhibited  such  a  letter  to  them,  and  that,  in  some  instances,  Marvine  was 
present ;  and  if  T.  0.  Larkin  also  comes  upon  the  stand  and  swears  that  he  never 
wrote  such  a  letter,  nor  did  he  ever  write  any  letter  to  Mr.  Wood,  nor  even  know 
him  at  that  time,  we  suppose,  under  such  circumstances,  no  sane  man  will  doubt 
that  Wood  did  show  such  a  letter,  and  that  the  plaintiffs'  oath  is  true,  and  the 
defendant's  oath  is  false. 

Extracts  pbom  Testdiony  as  to  the  Exhibition  of  the  FoRaEo  Letter 
FROM  T.  0.  Larkin. 

Henry  A.  SmytKs  tesUmony.—l  am  a  merchant  in  this  city ;  I  was  present  at  an  interview 
■between  Wood  and  Marvine,  in  the  fikll  of  1S48 ;  it  was  at  my  store,  31  Broad  street ;  the  conver- 
sation was  in  regard  to  a  shipment  of  merchandise  to  California,  by  the  John  "W.  Cater ;  Mr. 
Wood  produced  a  written  list  of  articles  recommended  to  be  shipped  to  California,  coming,  as  he 
said,  from  a  friend  there ;  there  was  a  letter  accompanying  this  list,  which  Mr.  Wood  showed  me  ; 
I  either  glanced  over  the  letter,  or  it  was  read  to  me  ;  Mr.  Wood  said  it  was  from  a  Mr.  Larkin, 
who  held  some  office  in  California— either  N.  O.  Larkin  or  T.  O.  Larkin ;  I  saw  the  signature,  and 
as  near  as  I  can  remember,  it  was  T.  O.  Larkin ;  he  said  the  list  and  letter  contained  information 
very  valuable,  worth  at  least  $5000  to  any  man.  Mr.  Wood  represented  this  Larkin  to  be  a  con- 
sul, or  holding  some  other  office  under  government  in  California,  and  that  he  furnished  him  with 
this  information  in  consideration  of  the  procuring  the  office  by  Wood.  The  object  seemed  to  be 
to  show  me  the  inducements  held  out  by  Wood,  so  that  I  would  either  sell  them  goods  or  recom- 
mend them  to  my  friends.    I  did  so  recommend  them. 

Charles  Partridge^a  testimony. — My  store  is  at  No.  8  Conrtlandt  street ;  I  know  Mr.  Wood  ; 
he  purchased  from  me  nine  cases  of  matches  in  the  fall  of  1848 ;  he  showed  me  a  letter  from  T.  O. 
Larkin,  in  government  employ ;  the  letter  was  shown  to  me  within  a  month  or  two  before  the  sale 
of  the  matches ;  my  attention  was  called  to  this  letter  more  than  once  by  Mr.  Wood ;  the  sub- 
stance of  the  letter  was  that  there  was  a  great  chance  to  make  money  if  goods  were  sent  to  Cali- 
fornia of  a  description  as  mentioned  in  a  catalogue  sent  with  the  letter,  which  catalogue  I  saw  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  Wood ;  it  may,  or  may  not,  have  been  a  part  of  the  letter ;  Mr.  Wood  said  he 
received  the  letter  fi-om  T.  O.  Larkin,  with  whom  he  had  become  acquainted  while  he.  Wood,  was 
in  Congress ;  that  he  had  assisted  Mr.  Larkin  to  the  office  he  held,  or  had  used  his  influence  to  get 
him  appointed.  I  first  saw  this  O.  Larkin  letter  at  Wood's  store,  corner  of  South  and  Dover 
streets :  I  think  I  had  it  in  my  hand,  and  looked  at  some  of  the  statements  in  it ;  the  signature 
was  T.  O.  Larkin,  I  am  positive  of  that ;  I  Eaw  the  same  letter  la  my  store  afterwards ;  Wood 
showed  It  to  me. 

Benjamin  IT.  Folger''8  testimony. — I  reside  in  the  city  of  Buffalo ;  my  business  is  that  of  a 
hardware  merchant ;  in  the  year  1818  1  resided  in  the  city  of  New-York,  and  did  business  there  ; 
I  have  known  Mr.  Marvine  lor  more  than  twenty  years.  On  or  about  the  28th  of  September  of 
that  year,  Mr.  Marvine  introduced  me  to  Fernando  Wood.  Mr.  Wood  exhibited  to  said  Marvin© 
and  myself  a  memorandum  of  an  assorted  cargo  of  goods,  which  paper  he  said  he  had  received  from 
T.  O.  Larkin,  of  San  Francisco,  who  then  held  some  government  appointment,  which  he.  Wood, 
had  obtained  for  him  when  in  Congress,  and  in  gratitude  for  that  act  of  friendship  he  had  sent  Mr. 
Wood,  privately,  this  list 

Mr.  T.  0.  LarJciin^s  teetimony.—I  reside  at  present  in  New-York ;  In  1848  I  resided  at  Monte- 
rey, California ;  I  was  U.  S.  Consul,  U.  8.  Navy  Agent,  and  TJ.  S.  Storekeeper  there  at  that  time; 
I  had  been  Consul  there  four  or  five  years  previous  to  1848 ;  I  had  been  doing  business  in  that 
country,  directly  or  indirectly,  as  a  merchant,  for  sixteen  or  eighteen  years ;  in  1S48  I  did  not 
know  Fernando  Wood ;  had  never  received  a  communication  from  him ;  had  no  knowledge  of 
writing  him ;  was  under  no  obligations  to  him  for  any  favors,  nor  had  he  ever  rendered  me  any 
assistance.  I  did  not  write  any  letter  to  him  recommending  any  shipment  or  adventure  to  Cali- 
fornia, nor  send  him  any  list  of  articles  useful  for  that  market ;  no  other  person  named  Larkin  was 
connected  with  the  U.  S.  government  in  CaUfornia  In  that  year. 

A.  T.  Marvinei's  testimony. — I  reside  at  Delhi,  Delaware  Co.,  this  State ;  I  know  the  defend- 
ant, Wood,  by  sight;  I  first  saw  him  in  the  fall  of  1848  ;  I  received  a  letter  from  my  brother,  Ed. 
E.  Marvine,  requesting  me  to  go  to  California,  and  came  to  this  city  for  that  purpose ;  I  found,  on 
my  arrival,  that  Mr.  Wood  was  one  of  the  parties,  and  I  followed  his  directions  in  all  I  did  In  this 
city;  I  went  on  board  the  barque  as  a  passenger;  Henry  Ulchardson,  a  brother-in-law  of  Mr. 
Wood,  was  also  a  passenger.  I  understood  when  I  came  here,  that  the  expedition  had  been  got 
up  in  consequence  of  a  letter  received  by  Mr.  Wood  from  T.  O.  Larkin,  and  that  they  had  been 
bought  according  to  a  list  furnished  by  Mr.  Larkin.  My  brother,  Mr.  Ed.  E.  Marvine,  directed  me, 
by  letter,  to  call  on  Mr.  Larkin,  and  express  to  him  a  sense  of  obligation  or  thanks  for  the  information 
he  had  furnished ;  I  did  so ;  quite  a  dialogue  passed  between  us  before  I  could  make  him  under- 
stand what  I  meant ;  I  finally  told  htm  he  might  understand  that  he  had  written  a  letter  to  Fer- 
nando Wood,  and  had  sent  to  him  a  list  of  goods  wanted  in  California,  and  that  the  goods  had  been 
sent,  and  I  was  one  of  the  passengers  of  the  expedition,  lie  then  said  he  was  glad  we  were  doing 
•well  with  it,  but  he  had  no  recollection  of  any  such  man  as  Fernando  Wood,  and  had  never  writ- 
ten such  a  letter,  nor  sent  such  a  list  to  him. 

We  do  not  for  a  moment  suppose,  after  reading  the  above,  that  any  one  will 
have  the  least  doubt  that  Fernando  Wood  exhibited  to  Marvine  a  forged  letter, 
having  the  signature  of  T.  0.  Larkin.    Human  testimony  can  not  be  given  of  any 


10  FALSB,  FOBOBD)  AMD  SIMULATED  BILLS. 

fact  of  a  stronger  character.  Yet  he  denies  on  oath  that  lie  ever  did  I  That  the 
letter  was  a  forgery  is  shown  by  the  very  person  from  whom  Wood  said  he  received 
it,  who  never  wrote  to,  or  even  knew  Wood  at  that  time.  Look  at  the  character 
of  the  witnesses  who  swear  that  Wood  showed  tliem  the  letter.  Who  is  Henry  A. 
Smyth  ?  Who  are  Charles  Partridge,  and  the  others  who  swear  that  Wood,  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  exhibited  tliis  letter  ?  They  saw  the  signature,  read,  and 
heard  read,  the  contents,  looked  at  the  list  of  articles  which  it  was  alleged  Mr. 
Larkin  advised  to  have  sent  to  the  California  market. 
We  now  pass  to  the  second  forged  document  in  this  case. 

Extracts  of  Testimony  relative  to  the  forged  Bill  of  Sale  of  the  Babqub 
John  W.  Cater,  exhibited  by  Wood  to  Maevine. 

Benjamin  IT.  Folger't  tettimofny.—'}iT.  Wood  exhibited  to  Mr.  Marvine  and  myself,  In  my 
store,  a  paper  purporting  to  be  a  bill  of  sale  of  the  barque  John  W.  Cater,  in  which  the  price  paid 
by  Wood  for  the  barque  was  stated  at  $12,000,  Marvine  said  he  knew  nothing  about  vessels,  but 
then  bought  the  one  half  of  the  barque  at  $6,000.  I  purcha-xed,  al  the  request  of  Wood  and  Mar- 
vine, some  hardware  to  be  shipped  on  the  barque,  and  applied  to  two  offices  In  Wall  street  to  have 
it  Insured.  iJoth  offices  declined,  on  account  of  the  age  of  the  barque.  One  of  them  said  the 
barque  was  so  old  that  she  was  out  of  the  books.  Neither  ofRce  would  take  the  risk  at  any  pre- 
mium, and  laughed  at  me  for  trying  to  effect  an  insurance  on  so  old  a  vessel.  At  ibe  time  ^V  ood 
exhibited  the  bill  of  sale  referred  to,  he  said  the  barque  was  from  nine  to  eleven  years  old.  I 
reported  the  result  of  my  visit  to  the  Insurance  offices  to  Mr.  Wood,  when  he  answered  me  that 
he  could  get  any  amount  done  on  her  that  he  wanted,  and  requested  me  not  to  mention  the  subject 
to  Mr.  Marvine,  who  was  then  in  Auburn,  lie  then  showed  mo  the  bill  of  sale  to  him  of  the 
barque,  filled  up  for  the  consideration  of  $12,000,  and  said  that  he  had  e.xpended  $1,000  in  putting 
her  in  good  order. 

JamM  BoyingUm'a  tettimony. — In  1848  I  was  a  merchant  of  tho  firm  of  Smith  &  Boyington. 
Our  Arm  owned  the  barque  John  W.  Cater.  We  became  her  owners  in  1844.  Her  papers  wera 
Isaued  In  18S1.  We  bought  her  of  Captain  0.  K.  Davis  for  $4,200.  We  sold  her  in  May,  1847,  to 
Fernando  Wood  for  $4,000,  and  executed  a  bill  of  sale  to  him.  Wo  never  executed  a  ijill  of  sale 
in  which  the  consideration  was  $12,000;  but  I  presume  the  consideration  expressed  in  the  bill  of 
sale  was  $4,000,  the  sum  for  which  she  was  sold. 

Is  not  this  conclusive  as  to  the  existence  and  exhibition  of  a  forged  bill  of  sale? 
Instead  of  some  nine  or  eleven  years,  the  barque  was  seventeen  years  old  in  1848, 
and  instead  of  costing  Wood  $12,000,  he  only  paid  $4,000. 

Wood  swears  in  his  answer  to  the  complaint,  that  he  never  exhibited  a  bill  of 
sale  of  the  said  barque.  Now,  what  are  we  to  call  this  ?  Is  it  not  perjury  ?  It 
ia  true  that  in  swearmg  to  the  truth  of  legal  pleadings  of  this  nature,  you  only 
swear  positively  as  to  those  matters  tliat  come  within  your  own  knowledge,  and 
that  the  pleadings  contain  much  that  you  swear  to  on  information  and  belief;  which 
you  merely  swear  that  you  believe  to  bo  true.  But  the  exJiibition  of  a  forged  bill 
of  sale  was  a  fact  that  must  have  come  within  his  own  knowledge,  and,  therefore, 
he  swears  not  upon  belief  and  information,  so  far  as  that  fact  is  concerned. 

We  presume  we  have  said  enough  about  the  first  two  forged  documents — the 
bill  of  sale  and  the  T.  ().  Larkin  letter — ^prepared  and  exhibited  by  our  "mod«i" 
Mayor  to  defraud  an  old  friend. 

The  referees  appointed  by  the  court  to  determine  this  matter  between  the  par- 
ties gave  judgment  against  Wood  for  $5,635.40,  on  account  of  the  barque  fraud. 
TUeir  report  on  the  whole  subject  will  be  iound  in  another  part  of  this  pamphlet. 

False,  forged,  and  snttrLATED  Bills. 

We  will  now  refer  to  the  fraudulent,  forged,  altered,  and  simulated  bills  and 
Touchers  furnished  Marvine  by  Mr.  Wood,  and  wliich  he.  Wood,  represented  as 
true  and  correct.  The  account  as  made  out  by  Wood  had  his  signature  appended 
to  it,  was  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  the  amounts  in  it  corroborated  with  the 
■everal  fraudulent  bills.  Tho  overcharges  or  frauds  in  these  bills  or  vouchers  are 
Bpecified  in  the  report  of  the  referees  below.  It  is  only  necessary  that  we  should 
refer  more  in  detail  to  some  of  them,  and  to  the  testimony,  in  order  that  the  people 
of  this  city  may  understand  more  fully  the  rascality  of  their  Mayor,  who  is  again 
placed  in  nomination,  and  be  prepared  with  substantial  arguments  compelling  them 
to  oppose  his  election. 

The  frauds  perpetrated  by  Wood  respecting  the  purchases  he  made  on  account 
of  the  partnership,  embrace  that  of  altering  the  bills  rendered  by  the  merchants  Of 


TESTIMONY.  11 

whom  he  purchased.  In  some  cases  he  increased  the  quantity  of  goods  purchased, 
in  others  he  added  largely  to  their  price.  In  many  cases  he  perpetrated  both  these 
frauds  in  the  same  bill.  In  some  cases  he  rendered  bills  to  his  partner  for  goods 
never  purchased,  to  be  shipped  on  the  voyage,  and  which,  of  course,  were  never  on 
board.  In  some  cases,  he  would  prevail  on  the  merchant  to  make  out  his  bill  at 
prices  which  would  afford  a  deduction  of  forty  per  cent  for  cash.  On  these  bills 
Wood  would  alter  the  40  per  cent  into  10  per  cent,  thus  increasing  the  cost  of  the 
goods  to  his  partner  30  per  cent,  and  reducing  the  cost  to  himself  the  same  amount. 
No  plan  of  fraud  and  forgery  that  human  ingenuity  could  devise  seems  to  have  beeu 
omitted  by  our  "mockr^  Mayor,  in  his  business  affairs  with  his  friend  Marvine. 

When  Wood  discovered  that  Marvine  had  determined  to  call  on  the  merchants 
of  whom  he  purchased,  to  get  evidence  of  the  frauds  he.  Wood,  had  perpetrated, 
he  travelled  in  advance  of  him,  and  endeavored  to  induce  the  merchants  to  make 
out  new  bills,  or  to  alter  the  charges  by  increasing  them  so  as  to  correspond  with 
the  forged  bills  he  had  rendered  Marvine.  His  usual  story  told  the  merchaula  in 
these  cases,  was,  that  he  had  much  trouble  in  this  matter,  and  the  increased  charges 
would  no  more  than  pay  him  for  it.  In  most  cases  the  merchants  refused  to  com- 
ply with  his  request,  but  in  others  he  succeeded  in  procuring  the  alterations,  by 
deceiving  the  merchants  as  to  his  object. 

Some  Testuioxy  on  this  Subject. 

Sidney  Wintringham,  a  testimony. — In  1848  I  was  a  dealer  in  cider,  porter,  ale,  and  wines.  I 
know  Mr.  Wood.  On  the  9th  October,  1S4S,  1  sold  htm  a  bUl  of  dder,  porter,  and  ale,  amounting 
to  $465 ;  the  terms  were  sis  months.    The  bill  as  follows : 

100  cases  cider  at  |2, $200 

100    "      porter  at  $1.75, , 175 

25    «      aleat$1.75 48  T5 

25    "      porter  in  pints  at  $2.60, 62  50 

Cartage, 3  75 

$4S5  00 
I  was  called  on  by  Mr.  "Wood  to  make  an  alteration  In  the  charges.    I  declined  doing  so,  and 
tliought  it  objectionable,  and  that  I  might  be  called  in  court,  and  it  would  not  look  well.    Wood 
said  tliat  some  one  would  call  to  get  a  copy  of  it, 

David  L.  Winiringharrii  testimony. — In  1S48  I  was  selling  ale,  porter,  and  cider.  I  was  with 
my  brother,  Sidney  Wintringham.  On  the  9lh  of  October  of  that  year,  a  sale  was  made  to  Mr. 
wood.  1  have  the  book  in  which  tlie  sale  was  entered.  The  entry  is  in  my  brother's  hand- 
writing. The  original  amount  was  $485.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  Wood  1  made  an  alteration  of 
that  entry.  He  wished  me  to  make  it,  and  I  think  he  was  present  when  1  made  it  He  wished 
me  to  alter  the  cider  from  $2  to  $2.25  per  dozen,  the  porter  from  $1.75  to  $2  per  dozen,  and  the 
wine,  pints  from  $18  to  $20.50.  He  said  that  some  person  might  call  for  a  bill,  or  a  copy,  and 
that  he  did  not  wish  every  one  to  know  his  business.  It  was  a  year  after  the  purchase  was  made 
when  Wood  called  to  have  the  alterations  made. 

JbAra  B.  TTiuriiby't  tef^imany. — My  father  was  a  rope  manufacturer  in  Bnshwlck,  and  bad  an 
office  in  this  city.  I  have  my  father's  books  here.  There  is  an  entry  against  Fernando  Wood 
tunounting  to  $910.  Mr.  Wood  called  at  my  father's  office,  in  reference  to  that  bill,  some  time  in 
the  fall  of  1849.  He  spoke  to  me  in  relation  to  it.  I  do  not  remember  the  prerise  conversation,  but 
It  was  to  the  effect  that  he  had  been  to  much  trouble  and  expense  in  titling  out  and  sending  the 
barqne  John  W.  Cater,  he  should  like  to  have  us  add  something  to  the  amount  of  the  bill,  about 
10  per  cent,  I  think,  more  than  the  face  of  the  bill  then  was.  He  said  some  one  would  call  for  a 
copy  of  the  bill,  and  he  wished  me  to  deliver  the  bill,  when  I  had  made  the  ad<lition,  to  whoever 
should  call  for  It  He  asked  that  the  addition  be  made  to  the  price  per  pound.  I  made  out  a  bill 
in  conformity  with  his  request  I  added  one  cent  per  pound  to  the  amount  stated  in  the  original 
invoice,  and  cartage  and  e.vpenses  $12.50.  the  precise  sums  named  by  Wood.  There  was  som« 
figuring,  but  Mr.  Wood  wi.-hed  me  to  add  about  10  per  cent,  and  to  do  so  the  one  cent  a  ponnd 
was  added.  I  did  just  as  he  told  me.  I  don't  remember  whether  I  delivered  this  altered  bill  to 
any  one,  or  whether  I  left  It  to  be  called  for. 

In  these  two  or  three  cases  we  see  the  ingenuity  of  the  hero  in  this  swindle. 
More  than  a  year  afterwards,  when  Marvine  concluded  to  ferret  out  some  of  the 
frauds  and  forgeries  of  Wood,  Wood  starts  in  advance,  calls  on  the  merchants,  and 
makes  a  desperate  effort  to  get  them  to  falsify  their  books,  by  altering  the  charge* 
against  him,  and  this,  too,  long  after  they  were  paid.  He  knew  what  the  exact 
amount  of  fraud  was  in  each  case,  and  if  he  could  only  get  the  merchants  to  alter 
their  books  so  as  to  correspond  with  the  frauds  and  forgeries  embraced  in  the  bilk 
he  had  rendered  Marvine,  and  get  them  to  deliver  copies  of  these  altered  accountB 
to  Marvine,  or  some  one  who  called  for  them,  at  his  request,  he  would  still  succeed 
in  destroying  the  suspicions  of  Marvine  as  to  the  irauds  he  had  perpetrated.    W1m> 


12  ALTERATIONS   OF  BILLS  AND  VOUCHEES. 

but  Fernando  Wood  could  have  devised  this  infamous  method  of  covering  up  his 
ihkuds  ?  The  report  of  the  referees  will  show  the  exact  amount  of  the  frauds  in  the 
several  bills  and  vouchers  rendered  by  "Wood. 

"We  need  only  to  refer  more  specifically  to  a  few  of  them,  in  order  to  show  the 
general  and  systematic  fraud  perpetrated.  For  a  small  bill  of  groceries  purchased 
of  John  R  Woolsey,  of  seven  dollars  and  seventeen  cents,  ho,  Wood,  rendered  a 
bill  for  $35.87,  tlius  fraudulently  obtaining  $28.70,  from  Marvine.  For  another 
small  bill  of  said  Woolsey,  for  fish  and  oil,  of  $9.85,  he  rendered  a  bill  of  $39.85, 
thus  defrauding  Marvine  of  $30.00,  on  this  bill — making  $58.70,  on  the  two  bills, 
which  in  the  aggregate  only  amounted  to  $17.02.  The  fraud  in  these  cases  was 
near  four  times  the  amount  of  the  true  cost  of  the  purchases.  It  was  effected  by 
adding  to  the  bills  30  gallons  of  oil,  and  four  kegs  of  lard,  never  purchased,  and 
never  put  on  board  of  tlie  barque  I  The  referees  gave  judgment  against  Wood  for 
the  $58.70,  on  those  two  small  bills. 

Wood  rendered  bills  to  Marvine  for  work  done  to  the  barque  long  before  he 
sold  the  one  half  of  her  to  Marvine.  He  rendered  a  bill  of  Hagadom  &  Elliot,  for 
painting  the  barque,  work  done  long  before  Marvine  became  part  owner.  The 
referees  gave  judgment  against  Wood  for  this  amount,  $54.40.  Ho  rendered  bills 
to  Marvine  for  poultry,  fresh  beef,  ducks,  turkeys,  eggs,  oysters,  pork,  vegetables, 
tongues,  cider,  porter,  lard,  and  other  articles,  which  were  never  purchased,  nor  put 
on  board  of  the  barque,  and  Marvine  paid  him  the  one  half  of  these  fradulent  bills. 

In  short,  there  is  no  other  person  inside  or  outside  of  the  State  prison,  who  has 
shown  more  ingenuity  in  altering  bills  than  our  model  Mayor.  As  a  specimen  of 
shinplaster  forgeiy,  we  give  the  following :  S.  Nichols  sold  Wood  the  following 
bill: 

1  16-inch  upper-box,  leathered,     ....    $1  50 

2  "        lower  pmnp-boxes,  | 

stapled  and  nailed,  )     .    .    .    .      2  00 

$3  50 

Now,  bow  do  you  think  our  model  Mayor  could  convert  this  bill  into  one  of 
$36.50,  instead  of  $3.50?  Why,  we  will  tell  you  how.  He  forged  a  figure  6 
after  the  figure  1  in  the  first  item  in  the  bilL  It  then  read  |16.50,  instead  of  $1.50 1 
He  then  forged  a  httle  cipher  and  placed  it  afl«r  the  figure  2  in  the  second  item,  so 
that  it  read  $20.00  instead  of  two  dollars ! 

One  more  instance  of  his  dexterity  in  mathematics,  an  example  of  which  is  not 
found  in  any  of  the  ordinary  works  on  that  science,  though  it  may  be  foimd  among 
the  combinations  of  figures  in  a  lottery  scheme.  Waydell  &  Co.  had  sold  Wood,  4 
•water-casks,  for  $12.00.  Our  Mayor's  ingenuity  soon  magnified  this  $12  into  $112. 
It  would  not  do  to  make  4  water-casks  cost  $1 12,  so  he  just  innocently  placed  before 
the  4  a  figure  3,  which  in  the  natural  order  of  the  digits  should  be  placed  there, 
and  it,  Waydell's  bill,  read  34  water-casks,  which  was  no  longer  Waydoll's  bill,  but 
Wood's  bill ;  and  then  just  to  show  that  34  water-casks  could  not  be  bought  for 
$12,  he  placed  another  1  beside  Waydell's  1,  when  it  read  $112 1 

No  wonder  our  Mayor  has  got  to  bo  a  rich  man.  His  success  disproves  the 
general  remark  that  mathematicians  are  always  poor,  because  too  much  absorbed 
in  figures  to  look  to  worldly  matters. 

StUl  one  more  convincing  proof  of  our  Mayor's  capacity  to  make  large  profits  on 
a  small  capital.^  Ho  was  far  too  modest  when  he  read  that  forged  T.  0.  Larkin 
letter  to  Marvine,  in  which  $100,000  profit  was  promised  on  a  shipment  of  $10,000 
■worth  of  goods.  Wood  actually  made  a  profit  of  $100  on  a  bill  of  75  cents,  con- 
tracted for  three  cartages  at  25  cents  each.  C.  &  R.  Poillon  rendered  to  Wood  a 
bill  for  sundry  items  and  three  cartages,  at  25  cents  each,  carried  out  75  cents. 
Wood  just  added,  we  suppose  in  his  usual  off-hand  way  in  money-making,  the 
•words,  "  sundry  spars,"  on  the  same  line  with  the  "  3  cartages,"  and  just  to  have 
the  price  look  business-like,  prefixed  to  the  figures  $0.75  a  1  and  a  0,  which  made  it 
$100,751  Truly  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  make  a  fortune,  if  you 
■understand  figures.  If  we  may  rightly  say  that  when  we  double  the  capital  wo 
have  invested  we  have  made  100  per  cent,  profit.  Wood  in  this  instance  made 
between  10,000  and  20,000  per  cent. 


EEFEREES'   KBPOET.  13 

The  testimony  of  Mr,  Dix,  the  son  of  John  A.  Dix,  who  was  in  Mr.  Wood's 
employ  at  the  time  the  accounts  for  the  barque  John  "W.  Cater  were  made  out, 
swears  that  Mr.  "Wood  wrote  the  heading  of  the  invoice,  and  then  handed  him,  the 
witness,  the  heading,  and  all  the  bills,  books,  and  papers,  which  enabled  him  to 
make  out  the  invoice.  The  invoice  was  made  out  by  the  witness  from  these  billa 
and  vouchers,  and  it  amounted  to  $25,938.79,  aa  stated  in  Wood's  letter  to  Mar- 
vine  at  the  time. 

Of  this  amount  Wood  purchased  the  following  bills,  and  Marvine  all  the  rest. 

wood's  pdkchases. 

James  Hunter  &  Ck).,  bill  rendered, $504  85 

C.  W.  Field,  " 569  76 

Geo.  8.  Spall,  "  210  00 

M.Q.  Wood,  «  675  88 

Wm.  E.  Lawrence,  «  825  11 

Holt  ifc  Palmer,  «  874  15 

8.  Wintringham,  "  5T8  75 

J.Thursby,  «  1,000  67 

Charles  Partridge,  "  „...  626  24 

JacobCondlt,  «  697  88 

O.  VanEvery  «  655  71 

James  Moore,  "  466  OO 

E.  Fish,  " 110  00 

C.  L.  Ingersoll,  "  177  25 

Taggart  &  Gray,  "  188  26 

Total, $T,540  00 

These  bills  all  correspond  with  the  invoice,  as  the  invoice  was  made  out  from 
them  in  part,  and  they  were  all  handed  to  young  Dix  by  Mr.  Wood  for  that  pur- 
pose. After  this.  Wood  informed  Marvine  by  letter,  which  we  have  pubhshed,  of 
the  exact  amount  of  the  cost  of  the  cargo.  When  Marvine  came  to  this  city. 
Wood  handed  him  all  these  bills  for  inspection,  and  Marvine  had  copies  made  of 
them  before  he  returned  them  to  Wood. 

We  will  go  no  further  into  the  details  of  these  disgusting  frauds.  The  fbUovraig^ 
report  of  the  referees  in  the  case,  will  give  the  amount  in  dollars  and  centa, 
as  far  as  they  investigated  the  subject. 

NEW-TOEK  SUPERIOR  COURT. 


HzKST  Sheldon,  Geobge  E.  Byxbie,  Wiluau 

H.  Shsldok,  akd  Levi  Chesntttwood, 

««. 

Fkknanbo  "Wood. 


To  the  Justices  of  the  Superior  Court  of  tTie  City  of  New-  York : 

In  pursuance  of  an  order  of  this  Court  made  in  the  above  entitled  action,  bearing  date  the 
twenty-ninth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-one,  whereby  it 
was  referred  to  William  M.  Evarts,  John  Cochran,  and  Henry  Hilton,  of  the  city  of  New- York, 
COunscUors-at-law,  to  hear  and  determine  this  action,  and  to  report  thereon, 

We,  the  undersigned  referees  in  the  said  order  named,  having  been  attended  upon  the  reference 
herein  by  the  counsel  of  the  respective  parties,  and  having  heard  their  respective  proofs  and  alle- 
gations, do  report : 

That  the  following  facts  were  proven  and  established  befor  e  us  upon  such  reference. 

That  on  the  second  day  of  October,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  the  defendant 
and  one  Edward  E.  Marvine  made  and  entered  into  an  agreement,  in  writing,  of  which  a  copy,  in- 
cluding the  memorandum  at  the  foot  thereof,  is  annexed  to  the  complaint  herein,  and  marked 
Schedule  A. 

That  at  the  time  of  making  such  agreement,  the  defendant  represented  to  said  Marvine  that  the 
barque  John  W.  Cater  therein  named  should  be  contributed  to  said  joint  adventure  at  the  cost 
price  thereof  which  the  defendant  had  paid  therefor,  and  the  defendant  then  agreed  to  sell  to  said 
Marvine,  and  the  said  Marvine  then  agreed  to  purchase  of  the  defendant,  one  half  of  said  barque 
at  such  cost  price. 

That  the  defendant  thereupon  represented  such  cost  price  to  have  been  twelve  thousand  dollars, 
($12,000,)  and  said  Marvine,  believing  such  representation  to  be  true,  and  upon  the  faith  thereoli 
agreed  to  give  the  defendant  for  one  half  interest  in  such  barque  the  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars, 
($6000,)  specified  in  said  agreement,  marked  Schedule  A. 

That  for  five  thousand  dollars  of  said  sum  of  six  thousand  dollars  the  said  Marvine  agreed  to 
give  the  defendant,  and  the  defendant  agreed  to  accept  of  said  Marvine,  certain  leasehold  premises 
known  as  No.  3  Murray  street,  in  the  city  of  New- York,  subject  only  to  an  incombrance  thereon 
of  five  thousand  dollars,  ($5000,)  which  the  defendant  was  to  assume. 


14  BEFERESS*  REPOBT. 

That  the  ooet  prioe  of  said  barque  John  W.  Cater  to  the  defendant  waa  not  twelve  thonrand 
doUan,  (118,000,)  but  on  the  contrary  was  only  four  thousand  dollars  ((40imi.) 

That  eaid  Marvlno  did  not  convey  or  transfiT,  or  cause  to  be  conveyed  or  iranRferred,  to  the  de- 
fendant said  leasehold  premleea  number  8  Murray  street,  subject  only  to  an  Inriiinlirance  of  five 
thou.^and  dollar^  ($SiH)0,)  but,  on  the  contrary,  after  the  convcyiince  and  transfer  thcn-of  to  the 
defendant  In  pursuance  of  the  agreement  aforu»ald,  be,  the  defendant,  was  obliged  to  and  did  pay, 
lay  out,  and  expend  In  perfecting  and  making  good  the  title  to  said  premiaes  bo  transferred  to  him, 
the  »um  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  (|15;).) 

And  also  paid  the  sum  of  seventy-six  dollars  and  twenty-one  cents,  ($76.21.)belng  the  taxes  npon 
Bald  [ireuilses  for  the  year  one  thoUMtnd  elglit  hundred  and  forty-eight,  (1848.) 

That  the  pavment  of  said  som  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  ($150)  and  said  aum  of  aeveniy- 
Bix  dollars  and  twenty-one  cents  ($76.21)  were  necessary  and  proper  in  order  to  vest  in  the  defend- 
ant a  title  to  said  leasehold  premise^  anbject  only  at  the  time  of  the  transfer  thereof  to  him  to  the 
Bald  incumbrance  of  five  thousand  dollars.  ($5iiiio.) 

That  on  or  about  the  twenty-first  day  of  Ociot>er.  one  thousand  eight  hnndred  and  forty-eight, 
and  within  a  few  days  after  said  barque  bad  sailed  from  the  port  of  Kew-Tork  upon  the  joint  ad- 
venture so  agreed  upon,  the  defendant  rendered  to  said  Marvlno  an  account  of  expenditures  mado 
bv  the  defendant  under  Baid  agreement,  marked  Schedule  A,  in  the  fitting  out  of  sai<l  vessel,  and 
tbe  purchase  of  her  stores  and  Buppliea,  and  said  Marvine,  believing  such  account  to  be  correct,  did, 
on  the  seventh  day  of  November,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  pay  to  tb  e  defend- 
ant  one  half  thereof,  pursuant  to  aaid  agreement. 

That  in  tbe  account  so  rendered  and  paid  were  the  following  errors  and  overcharges : 
Howa.Ki>  Jt  WiHTBiNonijf : 

Overcharge, $800  00 

John  R.  Woolsey  : 

Overcharge, 68  70 

Bksjahin  HaLL  &  Oo. : 

Overcharge, 214  90 

0.  H.  HoLOOMB : 

Overcharge, 8  26 

J.  W.  Feeam  : 

Overcharge, 64  60 

Pools  <Sc  Pentz  : 

Overcharge, 180  60 

HxsAiMRH  &  Elliott  : 

Overcharge, 64  40 

F.  Heksill  : 

Overcharge, 11  00 

0.  &  E.  PoiLLON : 

Overcharge, 100  00 

6.  NiOHOLLB  : 

OvCTcharge, 88  00 

WXTBELL  &  Co.  : 

Overcharge, 100  00 

0.  L.  Watkinb: 

Overcharge, 11  76 

£.Fise: 

Overcharge, 65  00 

CoKuassioMS : 

Overcharge, 46  60 

That  at  or  about  the  time  of  rendering  and  settling  the  disbursement  account  last  above  stated, 
the  defendant  and  said  Marvine  rendered  to  each  other,  and  on  the  third  day  of  January  following 
settled  between  them,  tbe  account  for  purchases  matle  by  each  purtiuant  to  bald  original  agreement 
marked  Schedule  A,  for  the  cargo  of  said  barque  .John  W.  Cater. 

That  upon  such  final  settlement,  the  account  set  forth  in  complaint,  and  dated  .Tannary  8, 1S49, 
was  stated  and  signed  by  the  parties,  and  such  settlement  was  h ^d  by  tbe  defendant  paying  to  the 
said  Marvine  the  balance  of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-four  dollars  and  five  cents  ($9<J4.i>5i  in  tho 
manner  in  said  account  specified,  such  payment  being  necessary  to  equalize  the  said  disburse- 
ments on  account  of  such  cargo,  and  thereby  each  contributed  an  equal  half  part  of  the  cost 
tbcreof  according  to  tbe  accounts  npun  which  Biich  settlement  was  based. 

Tbat  in  tbe  account  so  rendered  by  the  defendant  to  said  Marvine  for  purchases  made  by  the 
defendant  for  account  of  cargo  of  B^d  barque  John  W.  Cater  as  aforesaid,  were  the  following  er- 
rors and  overchargae : 
Holt  A  Palmer: 

Overcharge, $100  00 

Taooart  &  Obat  : 

Overcharge, 60  00 

CfTBtTB  W.  FiTLD  A  Co.  : 

Overcharge, 160  00 

Jaiob  Huster  t  Co.  : 

Overchange, 108  19 

WtLLiAK  E.  La  ubknob  : 

Overcharge, 286  00 

f.  WrsTRtKonAM: 

Overcharge, 26  00 

B.  Fisn : 

Overcharge, 20  00 

M.  Q.  "Wood  : 

Overcharge, 1T6  84 


EKFKBEES'   EEPOET.  15 

Olitbk  Vak  Etxbt  : 

Overcharge, , 70  Tl 

JoHX  Thttesby  : 

Overcharge,  112  80 

An  overcharge  of  Interest  as  follows : 

Interest  on  $2926.04  of  purchases  made  by  defendant  for  cargo  of  said  barque, 
actually  made  upon  a  credit  of  six  months,  but  in  the  account  charged  as 
made  for  cash 203  91 

Interest  on  $446  of  similar  purchases  actually  made  upon  a  credit  of  sU 
months,  but  In  the  account  charged  as  made  upon  a  credit  of  four  months,.      6  20 

That  each  and  all  such  errors  and  overcharges  have  been  discovered  by  said  Marvine  since  the 
settlement  of  said  disbursements  and  cargo  accounts,  and  that  the  payment  by  him  to  the  defend- 
ant of  an  equal  half  part  of  all  the  items  above  enumerated,  except  the  overcharge  of  interest  last 
mentioned,  and  as  to  that,  the  payment  of  the  whole  thereof,  was  made  upon  the  accounts  of  the 
same  rendered  by  the  defendant  to  said  Marvine  as  aforesaid,  and  upon  the  faith  and  credit  of  said 
Marvine  that  said  accounts  so  rendered  were  correct 

That  said  errors  and  overcharges,  exclusive  of  said  overcharge  of  Interest,  in  the  aggregate 
amount  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  dollars  and  tbrty-nine  cents,  ($22-31.49,)  one 
half  thereof  being  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifteen  dollars  and  seventy-four  cents,  ($1115.74,) 
and  the  interest  upon  said  one  half  from  the  respective  times  of  the  payment  thereof  by  said  Mar- 
vine to  the  defendant  as  hereinbefore  stated,  to  the  date  of  tliia  report,  amounts  to  five  hundred 
and  sixty-one  dullars  and  seventy-seven  cents.  ($561. 7T.) 

That  such  overcharge  of  interest  amounts  in  the  whole  to  two  hundred  and  nine  dollars  and 
eleven  cents,  ($209.11,)  and  the  interest  thereon  from  the  time  of  the  payment  thereof  by  said 
Marvine  to  the  defendant  as  hereinbefore  stated,  (namely,  the  3d  day  of  January,  1S49,)  to  the 
date  of  this  report  amounts  to  one  hundred  and  four  dollars  and  seven  cents.  ($104.()T.) 

That  the  difference  between  the  one  half  of  the  actual  cost  price  of  the  said  barque,  John  W. 
Cater  to  the  defendant  and  the  sum  which  said  Marvine  paid  the  defendant  therelor  upon  the  re- 
presentation that  she  cost  twelve  thousand  dollars,  ($12,000,)  is  four  thousand  dollars,  (14000.) 

That  deducting  therefrom  the  sums  paid  by  the  defendant  as  above  stated  for  perfecting  the  title 
to,  and  removing  liens  upon,  said  leasehold  premises  number  3  Murray  street,  leaves  the  sum  of 
three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars  and  twenty-nine  cents,  ($3773.29.) 

Interest  upon  said  sum  of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars  and  twenty- 
nine  cents,  ($3773.29,)  from  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  January,  1849,  the  day  the  said  Marvine 
transferred  said  leasehold  premises  to  the  defendant  to  the  date  of  this  report  amounts  to  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars  and  eleven  cents,  ($1862.11.) 

On  or  about  the  7th  day  of  November,  1349,  and  prior  to  the  commencement  of  this  action,  the 
said  Marvine  duly  assigned  and  transferred  to  the  plaintifTs  herein  all  claims  and  demands  which 
the  said  Marvine  had  against  the  defendant  arising  out  of  said  adventure,  or  the  purch.ase  of  the 
said  barque  John  W.  Cater,  or  the  disbursement  or  cargo  account  of  the  same,  or  said  agreement^ 
of  which  a  copy  is  annexed  to  the  complaint  herein,  and  marlced  Schedule  A  1. 

TVe  do  further  report  as  a  conclusion  of  law  upon  the  facts  so  found, 

First  That  the  plaintiffs  are  entitled  to  recover  of  and  from  the  defendent  the  difference  between 
the  one  half  of  the  actual  cost  price  paid  by  the  defendant  for  said  barque  John  W.  Cater,  and  the 
sum  which  said  Marvine  paid  the  defendant  for  said  one  half,  less  the  sums  so  paid  by  the  defend- 
ant for  perfecting  the  title  to,  and  removing  the  liens  upon,  said  leasehold  premises,  namely,  the 
sum  of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy -three  dollars  and  twenty-nine  cents,  ($377-3.29,) 
with  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars  and  eleven  cents,  ($1862.11,)  being  the 
Interest  thereon  from  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  January,  1849,  as  above  stated,  in  the  whole  amount- 
ing to  five  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars  and  forty  cents,  ($5635.40.) 

Second,  That  the  plaintliTs  are  entitled  to  recover  of  and  from  the  defendant  the  said  one  half 
part  of  said  errors  and  overcharges  above  enumerated,  amounting  to  one  thousand  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  dollars  and  seventy-four  cents,  ($1115.74,)  with  five  hundred  an.l  sixty-one  dollars  and 
seventy-seven  cents,  ($561.77,)  being  the  interest  thereon  to  the  date  hereof,  from  the  times 
said  Marvine  paid  the  same  to  the  defendant  as  above  stated,  in  the  whole  amounting  to  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  seventy-seven  dollars  and  fifty-one  cents,  ($1677.51.) 

Third,  That  the  pl.iintiffs  are  entitled  to  recover  of  and  from  the  defendant  for  said  overcharge 
of  Interest  above  specified,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  nine  dollars  and  eleven  cents.  ($2u9.11,) 
with  one  hundred  and  four  dollars  and  seven  cents,  ($104.07,)  being  the  interest  thereon  to  the  date 
hereof  ft-om  the  time  the  said  Marvine  paid  the  same  to  the  defendant  as  above  stated.  In  the  whole 
amounting  to  three  hundred  and  thirteen  dollars  and  eighteen  cents,  ($313.18.) 

Finally,  That  the  plaintiffs  are  entitled  to  payment  herein  against  the  defendant  for  the  sum  of 
seven  thousand  six  hundred  and  twenty-six  dollars  and  nine  cents,  (.7629.09.; 

And  we  do  further  certify  and  report 

First  That  no  sufficient  tender  by  the  defendant  to  said  Marvine  was  proven  before  us  to  have 
been  at  any  time  made  respecting  the  subject-matter  of  this  action. 

Second,  That  upon  such  reference  the  defendant  introduced,  subject  to  the  plaintiffs'  objection 
and  to  our  final  determination  in  respect  thereto,  evidence  respecting  the  following  items,  which 
Items  he  claimed  should  be  allowed  to  him  as  an  offset  against  any  claim  of  the  plaintiff  in  thin 
action,  namely: 

On*  half  of  the  sum  psid  by  the  defendant  to  one  Kent  for  a  gold-tester, $5  60 

Two  certuin  notes  of  Marvine  in  favor  of  one  Barney,  paid  by  defendant, 25  00 

One  half  of  certain  sums  paid  by  defendant  to  one  Capt  Stephen  Camack 820  00 

This  sum  charged  to  the  defenilant  fir  the  com[*ensation  of  A.  Q.  Marvine,  as  supercargo, 

and  paid  out  of  defendant's  share  of  the  return  of  the  adventure, 250  Og 

This  sum  charged  to  defendant  for  insurance  on  the  returns  of  the  sdventure,  and  paid  out 

«rf  the  defendant's  share  of  the  returns  of  the  adventure, 501  99 

Third,  That  prior  to  makiiu;  tlu&  our  report,  we  detemined  that  all  sufih  ibams  should  be  Hir 


18  WOOD'S  DKFKN6K. 

allowed,  and  the  evldenee  in  reepeet  thereto  ehonld  be  rejected,  beeanae  no  anffleleiit  set-off  or 
•onnter-elaim  had  been  set  forth  in  the  defendant'a  answer  herein,  and  the  pleadings  presented  no- 
iWDe  In  respect  thereto. 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

Wm.  M.  ETiXTB» 

John  C00BBA.N, 
Hknrt  Uiltor. 
Hkw-Tobx,  Janvary  18^  185fi. 

(Copy.) 


WOOD'S  DEFENSE. 

Now,  the  reader  would  naturally  inquire  what  was  the  nature  and  character  of 
the  defense  our  Mayor  would  resort  to  in  this  case.  It  was  scarcely  to  have  been 
supposed  that  his  ingenuity  was  insufficient  in  getting  up  some  land  of  defense. 
He  who  could  manufacture  a  forged  letter,  and  a  forged  bill  of  sale,  and  render  so 
many  fraudulent  bills  and  vouchers  to  his  partner,  could  not  certainly  content  him- 
self without  an  attempt  to  show  that  no  such  crimes  had  been  perpetrated. 

He  assumed  the  ground  that  these  charges  of  fraud  were  untrue,  and  that  all  the 
overcharges  in  his  bills  were  errors.  To  give  coloring  to  his  assumption  of  integ- 
rity, he  further  asserted  that  Marvine  participated  in  making  up  the  accounts  of 
the  barque,  and  to  him,  therefore,  the  alleged  errors  should  at  least  in  part  be  attri- 
buted. The  ground  was  taken  by  the  defense  that  Marvine  had  called  at  Wood's 
store,  a  day  or  two  after  the  barque  sailed,  and,  together  with  a  boy  in  Wood's 
employ,  made  up  the  ship's  accounts,  in  which  the  alleged  errors  were  discovered 
afterwards  by  Marvine,  and  for  which  the  referees  have  given  judgment  against 
Wood- 

This  line  of  defense  wa»  ingenious,  and  necessarily  gave  Marvine  much  trouble 
to  show  its  falsity.  The  barque  had  sailed  on  the  19th  of  October ;  and  now  how 
was  Marvine  to  show  that  he  had  notliing  to  do  with  making  up  the  ship's  accounts, 
and  thus  completely  destroy  this  species  of  defense  on  the  part  of  Wood  ?  The 
facts  of  the  case  were  that  Marvine  was  in  Auburn  when  the  barque  sailed,  and 
for  several  consecutive  days  after,  and,  therefore,  could  not  have  participated  in 
making  up  the  accounts  of  the  barque  in  Wood's  store  in  New- York,  which  were 
made  up  on  the  2 1st  of  October,  two  days  after  the  barque  had  sailed.  A  state- 
ment of  these  accounts  was  rendered  to  Marvine  at  Auburn,  by  Wood,  in  Wood's 
own  handwriting,  having  his  own  proper  signature  to  it,  and  dated  on  the  2l8t  of 
October. 

Wood  had  purchased  all  the  ship's  stores,  suppUes,  and  outfits  of  the  bajque, 
amounting,  as  he  stated,  to  $3,590.66.  The  cargo  on  board  the  barque  cost 
125,939.11,  making  together  $29,529.77.  Of  the  cargo  Marvme  had  purchased  to 
the  amount  of  $18,399.11,  and  Wood  to  the  amount,  as  he  alleged,  of  $7,540.00, 
together  making  the  cargo  cost  $25,939.11. 

Now,  in  the  purchases  by  Marvine,  of  over  $18,000  worth  of  the  cargo,  no  errors, 
overcharges,  or  frauds  existed.  But  m  Wood's  purchases,  of  about  |7,500  wortii 
of  the  cargo,  and  the  whole  of  the  outfits,  about  $3,500,  making  together  $11,130.66, 
all  the  frauds,  errors,  or  overcharges  existed-  If  Marvine  had  re^y  partici- 
pated in  making  up  the  ship's  accounts,  and  was  thus  responsible  in  part  for  the 
alleged  errors,  it  is  singular  that  they  should  all  have  been  against  liimsel^  and 
that  he  should  have  managed  so  as  to  alter  bills  and  vouchers,  in  almost  every 
case,  so  as  to  wrong  himself  in  the  aggregate  out  of  thousands  of  dollars.  We  say 
such  a  state  of  facts  would  be  almost  miraculous.  If  he  had  such  a  penchant  for 
cheating  himselij  why  did  he  not  do  it  iu  some  of  the  bills  he  had  purchased  on  ac- 
count of  the  barque  ? 

Although  no  sensible  business  man  would  attach  the  least  credit  to  such  a  de- 
fense on  the  part  of  Wood,  even  were  there  no  other  proof  of  its  absurdity,  yet  it  so 
h^pened,  that  Marvine  had  the  most  unquestionable  proof  that  he  had  no  agency 
in  making  up  the  ship's  accoimts,  was  not  in  this  city  when  they  were  made  up, 
and  that  he  received  a  copy  of  the  accoimts,  made  up  in  Wood's  own  handwr  itin, 
directed  to  him  at  Auburn,  dated  the  2l8t  day  of  October,  two  days  after  the  barque 
had  sailed.    The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  outfit  account,  all  of  which  was  pur 


wood's  dbpknsk.  17 

chased  by  Wood,  and  the  original  ia  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  was  sent  to  Mar* 
Tine  in  Auburn  on  the  2l8t  day  of  October: 

BASQCB  JOHX  W.  CAT8B, 

To  Fexnando  Wood,  Dr. 

Oct.  1848. 

To  Cash,  Steamboat  TJ.  States  and  pilot, $18  00 

Howard  4  Wintringham — ato's, 430  66 

Board  of  Surreyors, 12  00 

Thomas  Ritter — medicines, 12  98 

Bliss  &  Crelghton — compasses, 6  50 

John  K  Woolsey — provisions, 807  26 

Howard  &  Wintringham — oil,  4c., 12  81 

A.  J.  Horton— wood,  4c., 25  50 

0.  M.  Holcomb -flour,  4c., 14  75 

Advertising  and  papers, 18  25 

M.  Trappel— wharfage, 00  88 

Benjamin  Hall  4  Co.— stores, 214  90 

M.  Tallant— watching, 4  63 

J.  Macey— blacksmith. 12  02 

Jno.  W.  Terans — poultry,  4c., 64  50 

Jno.  Ferguson — coal,  &c., 5  OO 

R.  V.  W.  Thorne— wharfage, 6  00 

Pool  4  Pentz— cash  to  crew, 120  50 

J.  Ellis — marine  survey, 10  00 

A.  W.  Rogers — ship  keeping, 2  25 

J.  L.  Sandford  &  Co.— bread, 130  92 

Hagadorn  4  Elliott — painting, 54  45 

R.  C.  Wetmore  &  Co.— crockery,  13  97 

John  Mason  ifc  Co.— labor,  &c., 102  56 

Ackerly  —  potatoes, 28  52 

O.  Van  Every — caboose, 49  76 

Williams  &  Hinoore — ship  ch'd'y, 224  84 

Hemmingway  &  Beveridge — sails 896  61 

G.  Van  Deusen— fiUing , x2540 

Pilotage, 10  50 

O.  Van  Every — stove  fixtures, 8  00 

F.  Humill— board  bill, 11  00 

Fulton-street  Tea  Store, 18  05 

John  R.  Woolsey — groceries, 35  8* 

0.  &  R.  PolUon — repairs  and  spars, 188  09 

Advanced  to  Cook, 26  00 

S.  Candler — survey  certificate, 7  50 

0.  L.  IngersoU— boat, 88  25 

S.  NichoUs — pump,  gear,  &c., 36  50 

Wagdell  &  Co. — casks,  c'p'ge,  <fcc., 152  87 

Wm.  Frost— wharfage, 7  87 

F.  Humill — advanced  to  crew, 222  25 

C.  L.  Walker— boxes, 11  75 

R.  Hoyt— cash,  &c., 82  50 

Thompson — Brooklyn  wharfage, 5  00 

S.  Tallant— watching, 16  25 

J.  R.  Woolsey— fish,  &c., 39  85 

R.  Fish— boats, 65  00 

W.  Cain— poultry,  &c., 32  20 

T.  P.  Cowen— rigging,  &c., 75  08 

Daniel  Coger — ship-joiner, 31  24 

"        Custom-House — clearances  &  c't'ges, 58  85 

To  com.  and  advancing  $8,486  64, 174  33 

$3  660  97 

Error  In  Bill,  November  26, '  20  U 

$3,640  86 
Kew-Tork,  October  Slst,  1848. 

Fbbnamdo  Wood. 

Deduct  on  filling  first  page, 10  90 

$8,630  66 

Deduct, 40  00 

$8,590  66 
On  the  day  preceding  the  date  of  this  account,  that  is,  on  the  20th  of  October,  the 
day  after  the  barque  sailed,  "Wood  wrote  Marvine  at  Auburn  as  follows : 

Nbw-Tobk,  Oct.  20,  1848. 
Ed.  B.  MABvnra,  Esq.,  Auburn  : 

Mt  dbar  Sir  :  I  regret  exceedingly  to  learn  from  Mr.  Smyth  that  Mrs.  Marvine  continues  quite 
ill,  BO  much  so  as  to  prevent  your  leaving  her.    I  sincerely  hope  she  will  be  much  better  before 

2 


18  THE  T.  O.  LARKIN   FORGED   LETTER   ONCE   MORE. 

the  receipt  of  this.  I  wrote  you  8ome  days  ago  that  the  barque  was  insured.  I  attended  to  that, 
and  have  your  policy,  which  will  be  handed  to  you  on  your  return.  She  sailed  yesterday,  at  1ft 
o'clock  A.  M.,  with  an  exceedingly  fine  and  fair  wind,  with  the  most  favorable  prospects.  Your 
brother  and  Mr.  Richardson  went  on  board  in  exultant  spirits,  full  of  hope  for  a  successful  result 
We  have  been  exceedingly  fortunate  in  all  things,  except  passengers.  Our  passage-money 
amounts  to  but  $260,  and  freight-money  to  $511,  total  $701.  What  the  expense  of  outfits  will 
be  I  can't  tell  yet,  until  all  tlie  bills  are  received,  but  they  are  very  heavy.  We  found  that  as  it 
i»  our  intention  to  run  the  vcasel  on  the  Pacific  coasts  for  some  time,  and  disbursements  and  pro- 
visions would  be  so  high  there,  that  it  was  necessary  to  lay  in  a  very  large  supply  to  last  a  long 
time.  From  present  indications  the  outfits  will  amount  to  over  $3,ui00.  It  may  be  several  hun- 
dred dollars  over  that  sum. 

The  exact  amount  of  invoice  of  our  goods  Is  $25,989  11,  which  la  all  well  insured,  and  20  per 
cent  added.  The  whole  accounts  and  papers  were  made  up  by  Mr.  Sheldon's  nephew.  I  thought 
in  your  absence  it  might  be  more  satisfactory  to  you.  He  arranged  all  the  bills  and  papers. 
When  we  meet,  the  whole  matter  will  be  talked  over.  There  is  nothing  now  requiring  your  pre- 
sence here  appertaining  to  our  business. 

Very  truly  yours,  Fbbnando  Wood. 

Here  we  see  by  this  letter,  that  "Wood  informed  Marvine  the  exact  amount  of  the 
cost  of  the  cargo,  $25.939.11 ;  and  stated  that  the  outfits  would  be  over  $3,000, 
and  several  hundred  dollars  over  that  sum.  On  the  very  next  day  he  sends  the 
exact  amount. 

Now,  what  becomes  of  the  defense  that  Marvine  was  at  "Wood's  store  in  New- 
Tork,  at  the  very  time  when  Wood  was  daily  writing  to  him  at  Auburn  ?  He 
wrote  him  at  Auburn  almost  daily  for  several  consecutive  days.  Marvine  proved 
that  ho  was  in  Auburn  daily,  from  the  time  the  barque  sailed,  on  the  1 9th  of 
October,  until  the  28th  of  the  same  month.  He  proved  this  by  several  persons  in 
Auburn,  with  whom  he  transacted  business  on  those  days.  Here,  then,  we  see  the 
strongest  proof  that  he  had  no  agency  in  making  out  the  ship's  accounts,  in  which 
so  many  frauds  have  been  proven  to  exist.  "When  Wood  swore  that  Marvine  par- 
ticipated in  making  out  these  accounts,  he  swore  to  what  was  not  tme,  and  what 
he  knew  was  false. 

When  Marvine  arrived  in  this  city,  which  he  did  about  the  1st  of  November, 
Wood  handed  him  tlie  bills  and  vouchers  of  the  outfit  account  of  the  barque, 
which  bills  and  vouchers  corresponded  with  the  account  he  had  sent  Marvine  at 
Auburn,  on  the  21st  of  October.  Marvine,  believing  that  all  was  correct,  after  com- 
paring the  bills  and  vouchers  with  the  account  as  sent  him  by  Wood,  settled  by 
paying  Wood  the  one  half  of  it,  or  $1795.33.  Before  Marvine  returned  the  bills 
and  vouchers  to  Wood,  suspicions  began  to  be  entertained  that  he  had  been 
defrauded,  and  he,  therefore,  had  copies  of  the  bills  and  vouchers  made,  and  these 
copies  compared  with  the  originals  by  a  mercantile  friend,  who  put  his  initials  on 
them,  and  they  were  produced  on  the  trial.  Wood  never  produced  on  the  trial 
the  original  bills,  on  which  Marvine  had  settled  the  account  with  him.  Probably, 
like  his  bank-book  years  before,  they  had  been  burned  up  in  some  fire  that  occur- 
red 1  Why  did  he  not  produce  them?  Ah  I  he  was  not  disposed  to  show  the 
referees  that  he  had  altered  those  bills,  and  that  they  were  thus  no  longer  the  bills 
as  made  out  by  the  merchants  of  whom  he  had  purchased  goods  for  the  barque.  It 
was  the  frequent  interhneations  and  alterations  in  those  bills  and  vouchers,  that 
gave  Marvine  suspicions  that  he  had  been  defrauded ;  so  before  ho  returned  them 
to  Wood  he  had  copies  takeix. 

THE  T.  0.  LARKIN  FORGED  LETTER  ONCE  MORE. 

The  defense  as  to  this  forged  document,  was  of  a  character  to  show  the  villainy 
of  Wood  in  as  bold  and  prominent  a  view  as  the  forged  document  itself,  and  the  evi- 
dence in  relation  to  it.  What  do  you  imagine  was  the  cbaracter  of  Wood's  defense 
on  this  point  of  the  case  ?  After  some  foui  or  five  witnesses,  all  of  the  highest 
diaracter  as  respects  veracity  and  integrity,  had  sworn,  on  the  part  of  the  plantifls, 
that  Wood  did  exhibit  to  Marvine  and  to  them,  such  a  letter  as  has  been  described, 
purporting  to  have  been  received  from  Thos.  0.  Larkin,  a  government  agent  in 
California,  and  that  they  read  it,  or  portions  of  it,  and  heard  it  read  by  Wood,  he, 
Wood,  saw  the  necessity  of  counteracting  the  effect  of  this  testimony.  As  this  T. 
0.  Larkin  appeared  on  the  stand  himself,  and  swore  that  he  had  never  written  to 
Wood,  and  did  not  even  know  him  at  the  time  the  forged  letter  was  written,  an 
eflbrt  must  be  made  by  Wood  to  (xnfoond  and  to  confute  the  witnesses  who  swore 


OBTAINING   MONEY  UNDER  FALSE  PRETENSES.  19 

that  he  showed  them  such  a  letter.  This  efifort  was  made.  "Wood  succeeded  in 
finding  a  man  who  had  been  in  CaUfornia,  named  Thos.  S.  LarJcins ;  not  a  govern- 
ment agent,  it  is  trae,  but  an  EngUshman,  who  came  to  California  from  China,  in 
1849.  Wood  very  naturally  supposed  that  if  he  could  forge  a  letter  purporting  to 
come  from  this  Larking,  resembling  much  the  other  forged  letter,  purporting  to  have 
been  received  from  Thos  0.  Larkin,  and  then  show  this  to  the  witnesses  on  the 
stand,  who  swore  that  he  had  exhibited  the  first  forged  document,  he  would  force 
them  to  hesitate  whether  this  last  forgery  was  not  the  document  they  had  seen 
him  exhibit  to  Marvine.  If  a  letter  is  shown  to  a  person,  signed,  as  he  believes,  by 
Thos.  0.  Larkin,  he  would  naturally  hesitate,  a  year  or  more  afterwards,  when  a 
similar  letter  in  appearance  is  laid  before  him  signed  Thos.  S.  Larkins,  to  say  that 
it  might  not  be  the  same,  unless  he  judges  from  the  contents,  or  some  other  cir- 
cumstance except  the  signature. 

But  happily  for  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice,  this  last  forgery  of  our  "model" 
Mayor  was  full  as  bunglingly  committed  as  the  first.  The  plantiffs  brought  on  the 
stand  a  witness,  a  Capt.  Eraser,  who  knew  this  Thos.  S.  Larkins,  and  had  corre- 
sponded with  him ;  and  he  swore  that  ho  was  not  in  California  at  the  date  of  this 
letter  which  Wood  pretended  to  have  received  fi-om  him ;  and  that  his  name  was 
Larkins,  and  not  Larkin ;  that  the  middle  letter  was  S.,  and  not  0.  He  knew  the 
writing  of  this  Thos.  S.  Larkins,  who  was  an  Englishman,  and  showed  some  letters 
from  him.  "When  the  handwriting  of  this  Thos.  S.  Larkins,  in  possession  of 
the  witness,  was  compared  with  that  in  the  forged  letter  Wood  pretended  to  have 
received  from  him,  they  were  about  as  dissimilar  as  the  ancient  Egyptian  hierogly- 
phics, and  that  style  of  hand  we  see  in  the  copy-books  used  in  the  schools  of  the 
present  day.  Thus  it  was  shown  that  our  "  model "  Mayor  had  been  trying  his 
hand  at  forgery  again.  He  got  most  beautifully  caught.  When  the  case  was 
summed  up,  the  plantiffs'  counsel  ca'.led  the  attention  of  the  referees  to  the  hand- 
writing in  this  forged  letter,  and  to  that  in  the  papers  before  them,  known  to  be  in 
Wood's  hand.  The  similarity  was  perceptible,  though  an  attempt  to  disguise  wag 
evident  in  the  forged  document.  All  was  solemn  and  silent  when  the  counsel 
showed  the  identity  of  the  handwriting  in  the  two  cases,  the  one  a  forged  paper, 
and  the  other  admitted  to  bo  the  handwriting  of  Fernando  Wood  I 

Thus  we  see  the  defense  in  this  case  did  nothing  but  multiply  the  frauds  and 
crimes  of  the  defendant,  Wood.  His  forgeries  became  more  numerous  and  appa- 
rent as  the  defense  proceeded.'  Reader,  shall  we  re-elect  this  man  Mayor  of  o'lr 
dty? 


WOOD   INDICTED   FOR   OBTAINING   MONEY   UNDER   FALSE    PRETENSES  I 
HE    PLEADS    THE    STATUTE    OF    LIMITATIONS! 

The  People  against  Fernando  Wood. 

On  tlie  7th  of  November,  1851,  the  Grand  Jury  of  this  city  found  a  bill  of  indict- 
ment against  Fernando  Wood  for  the  alleged  offense  of  obtaining  money  under 
false  pretenses.  But  it  so  happened  that  the  offense  for  which  he  was  indicted 
bad  been  committed  three  years  previously,  on  the  7th  day  of  November,  1848. 
The  Revised  Statutes,  in  reference  to  the  offense  of  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretenses,  etc.,  enacts  that  the  indictment  shall  be  found  and  filed  in  court  within 
three  years  after  the  commission  of  the  offense.  In  this  indictment  against  Wood, 
if  the  day  on  which  the  offense  had  been  committed  was  included,  three  years  had 
elapsed.  Wood  plead  this  statute,  so  as  to  avoid  an  investigation  of  tiio  matter. 
The  case  came  before  the  then  Recorder,  and  as  there  was  some  doubt  as  to  what 
his  decis'on  would  be,  means  were  to  be  used  to  have  it  favorable  to  Wood.  It 
was  all-important  to  Mr.  Wood  that  no  investigation  of  the  case  should  take  place. 
Of  course  no  innocent  man,  charged  with  such  a  crime,  would  desire  to  avoid  an 
investigation ;  but  would  rather  court  a  full  inquiry  into  the  matter,  so  that  he 
could  be  honorably  discharged,  and  all  suspicions  removed.  But  this  was  not  the 
view  taken  by  our  "model"  Mayor.  The  Recorder's  decision  appeared,  and  it  was 
favorable  to  Wood.  The  decision  was  tiiat  t'ne  three  years  had  elapsed,  that  the 
day  on  which  the  alleged  offense  had  been  committed  must  be  included  in  com- 


so  OBTAINING  MONBT  UNDBB  FALSE  PRETENSES. 

putiog  the  time  that  had  elapsed ;  and  he,  therefore,  granted  the  motion  to  quash 
the  iDdictment. 

This  decision  of  the  Recorder  ia  reported  in  full  in  the  New-  York  Legal  Observer, 
published  in  this  city ;  and  its  correctness  or  incorrectness  is  a  matter  about  which 
we  have  nothing  to  say.  "We  simply  assert  the  facts  of  the  case  as  they  occurred. 
The  accused  evidently  had  some  doubt  as  to  what  the  decision  would  be,  and  he, 
therefore,  very  probably  reflected  upon  the  plan,  which  in  his  judgment,  was  the 
best  to  secure  a  favorable  one.  We  say  this  much  in  anticipation  of  giving  our 
reasons  for  saying  it  Now  for  the  facts  of  the  case,  and  then  we  will  leave  the 
reader  to  judge  whether  we  have  insinuated  unjustly.  There  is  one  important 
circumstance  connected  ynth  this  case,  or  one  which  we  will  connect  with  it,  that 
deserves  to  be  mentioned,  and  then  the  reader  may  draw  his  own  inference  from  it. 

A  FIYB   HUNDRED   DOLLAR   CHECK. 

Within  a  day  or  two  of  the  very  time  the  Recorder  gave  his  decision  to  quash 
the  indictment.  Wood's  check  for  $500  was  drawn,  payable  to  the  Recorder.  It 
was  cashed  by  a  broker  in  this  city,  to  whom  it  was  presented  for  that  purpose  by 
the  Recorder  in  person.  Now,  what  is  there  wrong  in  this  ?  We  see  nothing 
worthy  of  comment,  in  the  simple  fact  that  the  Recorder  should  have  had  Wood's 
check  for  $500,  and  should  get  the  cash  for  it.  But  as  the  newspapers  of  that 
day  had  much  to  say  about  this  indictment,  and  the  decision  of  the  Recorder,  the 
broker  who  cashed  the  check  could  not  help  his  attention  being  directed  to  the 
two  facts — the  decision  to  quash  the  indictment  and  the  five  hundred  dollar  check, 
both  of  which  facts  occurred  about  the  same  time.  The  unfortunate  circumstance 
is,  the  simultaneous  occurrence  of  these  two  facts.  This  is  what  compelled  the 
broker  to  give  the  subject  more  thought  than  he  gave  to  paying  a  check  ordi- 
narily. 

How,  then,  shall  we  ascertain  whether  the  fact  that  Wood's  check  for  five 
hundred  dollars,  given  to  the  Recorder  at  this  unfortunate  time,  was  or  was  not  a 
business  transaction,  entirely  disconnected  with  the  indictment  case,  and  not  in- 
tended by  Wood  to  influence  the  decision  of  the  Recorder  ?  There  is  no  doubt  of 
the  fact,  that  the  check  was  paid  the  Recorder.  It  was  drawn  on  the  Citizen^ 
Bank,  cashed  by  a  well-known  and  responsible  broker,  a  man  who  is  respected  by 
all  who  know  him.  Now,  it  so  happens  that  a  denial  by  Wood  and  the  Recorder 
that  such  a  check  ever  existed,  would  be  very  strong  proof  that  it  was  given  for 
corrupt  purposes.  Assuming  that  the  check  was  given  and  paid  precisely  as  we 
have  stated,  and  that  the  transaction  was  a  perfectly  legitimate  and  honorable  one, 
none  of  the  parties  would  wish  to  deny  it.  But  if  they  do  deny  it,  then,  upon 
proof  that  the  transaction  did  occur,  as  we  have  stated,  it  is  a  very  strong  pre- 
sumption that  the  transaction  was  a  corrupt  one. 

Both  Wood  and  the  Recorder  have  denied  that  such  a  check  was  ever  given. 
The  Recorder  went  so  far  in  his  denial  as  to  commence  a  suit  for  libel  against  one 
or  more  of  the  daily  papers  of  this  city  for  having  stated  the  fact  of  such  a  check 
having  been  given  and  cashed.  But  he  never  intends  to  have  the  suit  tried.  We 
have  in  our  possession  his  denial  of  the  existence  of  such  a  check  over  his  oven 
signature,  which  is  to  our  mind  the  strongest  kind  of  proof  it  was  drawn  by  Wood 
to  influence  the  Recorder  in  the  indictment  case  refeired  to;  and  that  the  intention 
on  the  part  of  Wood  was  corrupt. 

There  is  still  other  evidence  to  show  corruption,  and  an  attempt  to  bribe  the 
court  It  is  usual  to  employ  a  third  party  to  negotiate  bargains  of  this  character. 
So  it  was  in  this  case.  From  that  party  the  facts  we  have  stated  were  first  learned. 
Then  these  facts  were  corroborated  by  the  broker  himself  who  cashed  the  check. 

Such  are  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  indictment  case  of  Fernando 
Wood  for  obtaining  money  under  false  pretenses.  He  was  indicted.  He  avoided 
an  investigation  of  the  case  by  pleading  the  statute  of  limitations.  He  paid  the 
Eecorder  $5uO  about  the  tune  that  magistrate  decided  that  the  plea  was  a  good 
one,  and  that  the  indictment  must  be  quashed.  Reader,  draw  your  ovm  in- 
ferences! 


KSrOW-NOTHINGISM.  21 

WAS   OR   WAS   NOT  OUR    "MODEL"    MAYOR   A    KNOW-NOTHING ?- HIS 
OATH  -  COUNTER  AFFIDAVITS  AND  STATEMENTS. 

It  is  alleged  that  for  many  months  preceding  the  election  of  1854,  Mayor  "Wood 
was  a  member  of  the  American  Order,  or  the  association  known  as  Know- 
Nothings.  He  joined  the  order  in  the  twenty-second  ward,  though  he  attended  its 
meetings  in  all  parts  of  the  city.  He  very  frequently  travelled  with  James  W. 
Barker,  a  candidate  for  the  Mayoralty  at  the  same  election,  and  the  nominee  of  the 
order  for  that  ofiBice.  "Wood  and  Barker  were  both  candidates  for  nomination  by 
the  order,  though  Barker  beat  "Wood  in  the  contest.  "Wood  was  a  member  of  the 
executive  council  of  the  order  that  nominated  Barker  for  Mayor.  He  was  one  of 
those  selected  to  inform  his  brother  Barker  that  he  was  nominated. 

After  Barker  was  nominated,  Fernando  Wood  saw  that  he  had  no  longer  any 
hope  of  being  the  nominee  of  the  Know-Nothings  as  a  party.  He,  therefore,  went 
to  work  secretly  to  produce  dissension  in  the  order,  with  a  view  to  draw  off  a  pajt 
of  the  voters  to  his  own  support.  It  will  be  remembered  that  soon  after  Barker 
was  nominated,  Wood  got  the  nomination  of  both  sections  of  the  Democracy. 
Tammany  Hall  nominated  him  without  much  of  a  struggle,  and  the  Hards,  who  as- 
sembled at  the  Stuyvesant  Institute,  had  a  close  contest  in  their  convention.  But 
Wood  had  used  his  money  freely,  had  purchased  the  support  of  many  members  of 
the  convention,  and  had  adroitly  managed  to  get  others  elected  to  the  convention 
whom  he  could  control.  He,  therefore,  was  by  a  majority  of  some  one  or  two  de- 
clared the  nominee  of  the  Hard  Democracy  for  the  mayoralty. 

But  as  the  contest  neared,  many  members  of  the  Democratic  party  became 
alarmed  on  account  of  the  apparently  well-founded  assertions  in  the  pubUc  papers, 
and  in  political  circles,  that  Wood  was  a  member  of  the  Know-Nothing  order.  He 
was  called  upon  by  committees  and  by  individuals  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  these 
assertions.  He,  of  course,  positively  denied  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  order. 
But  so  strong  was  the  beUef  that  his  denial  was  false  that  many  insisted  that  he 
should  make  the  denial  over  his  own  signature,  and  cause  it  to  be  published  in  the 
papers.  Not  the  least  alarmed  about  putting  his  name  to  a  falsehood,  in  order  to 
win  support,  he  consented  at  once,  and  the  following  card  made  its  appearance  in 
the  pubUc  papers.  It  was  addressed  to  M.  Doheny,  Esq.,  one  of  our  Irish  citizens, 
who  somewhat  doubted  on  the  question  of  Wood's  Know-Nothingism : 

[Copy.]  New-York,  October  SI,  1854. 

Dear  Sik  :  In  reply  to  your  inquiries  respecting  the  truth  of  the  statement  made  In  one  of  the 
newspapers  of  this  city  to  lie  effect  that  I  am  a  member  of  the  order  o  Know-Nothicgs,  I  state 
that  there  is  no  truth  in  it  whatever.    I  am  not  a  member  of  any  secret  society  whatever. 

Very  truly  yours,  Febnando  Wood. 

M.  Doheny,  Esq. 

Still  thousands  would  not  beheve  this  card.  They  would  be  satisfied  with  no- 
thing short  of  the  affidavit  of  Wood  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  order.  He 
was  told  that  he  must  make  an  affidavit  to  that  effect,  or  he  would  be  opposed. 
Finding  himself  pressed  on  all  sides  upon  the  subject,  and  being  nothing  daunted 
at  the  crime  of  perjury,  he  made  an  affidavit,  which  we  publish.  He  made  several 
of  the  same  kind,  and  swore  to  them  before  different  commissioners,  so  as  to  remove 
the  suspicions  of  several  committees  and  individuals  who  called  upon  him.  The 
result  of  all  this  was,  that  he  succeeded  in  inducing  many  to  believe  that  he  was 
not,  nor  never  had  been,  a  Know-Nothing.  Hundreds,  however,  knew  better. 
Though  he  had  the  nomination  of  both  sections  of  the  Democratic  party,  he  did  not 
get  their  united  support  by  many  thousands. 

That  his  affidavit  denying  membership  of  the  order  was  false,  may  be  proven  by 
another  affidavit  of  four  respectable  members  of  the  order,  who  swore  positively 
that  he  was  a  member.  Then-  oaths  were  taken  about  four  days  after  that  of  Mayor 
Wood.    We  give  both  affidavits. 

APFIDATIT  OF  FEBNAKDO  WOOD. 

CriT  un)  OotTNTY  OF  Nkw-Tork  .    }• ««. 

Fernando  Wood,  of  the  city  of  New- York,  being  duly  bwoto,  doth  depose  and  say  that  thft 
Btatement  made  this  day  in  The  Sunday  Dispatch,  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  KnoW' 


82  DISGUSTING  STOBT  ABOUT  A  CATHOLIC  PEIEST. 

Nothings  Is  absolutely  and  unqnaliflcdly  false,  and  farther  that  be  is  not  a  member  of  any  secret 
«rder  or  society  whatever  except  tlieTiimmany  Society  or  Colanablan  Order;  and  ftirtber,  that  b« 
bolds  no  political  principles  antagonistic  to  those  of  the  great  Democratic  partv  of  this  Union ;  and 
ftirther  this  deponent  salth  not  (Signed)       Fkbnamdo  Wood. 

Sworn  before  me  this  29th  day  of ) 
October,  A.D.  1854.  ) 

M.  DiKFsNSOKr,  CommUHonw  of  Deeds. 

THE  COTJNTEB  AFFIDAyiT  OP  FOUR  RESPECTABLE    MEN  DIEEOTLY    OONTRADIOTIKG 

THE  ABOVE. 
The  undersigned,  being  duly  sworn,  do  severally  swear  and  declare  that  they  are  personally  ac- 
quainted with  the  Hon.  Fernando  Wood,  and  have  been  so  acquainted  for  some  time  pa->t,  and  of 
our  own  Itnowled^e,  do  say  that  be  has  been  for  some  months  past  a  member  of  an  order  known  and 
deMgnated  as  "  Know->othing8;"  and,  furlhermore,  that  he  was  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil of  the  same  order,  who  made  the  nomination  for  Mayor  at  its  recent  session,  and  was  himself 
A  candidate  for  that  position,  and  his  friends  personally  solicited  our  voles  and  support  for  that 
office  for  him,  but  failed  to  secure  a  sufBclent  nnniber  of  votes  to  effect  the  purpose. 

(Signed)       TiiRO.  O.  Chambbbs,  O.  0.,2d  Ward,  City  New- York. 
K.  AV.  Spauldixo,  Member  Com.  4th  Ward  Council. 
II.  Fakkington,  9th  Ward. 
EoBEBT  8.  Dixo.N,  9th  Ward. 
Sworn  to  before  me  this  J 
2d  day  of  Nov..  1S54.     ) 

W.  F.  T.  CiiAPiiAN,  Com.  of  Deeds. 

[Copy.] 

That  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  order  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute,  and  is  not  now 
denied  even  by  his  friends.  Those  who  wish  to  show  that  the  Mayor  did  not  swear 
felse,  say  that  he  had  withdrawn  from  the  order.  It  is  stated  upon  pretty  good 
authority,  that  he  induced  a  man  by  the  name  of  Fergusson,  a  member  of  the  order 
to  which  Wood  belonged,  and  its  secretary,  to  give  liim  a  certificate  of  withdraws], 
and  not  to  note  the  fact  on  the  books  of  the  order,  or  report  it  to  its  members. 
Wood  could  tlius  hold  this  certificate  and  continue  his  membership  or  not  as  he 
chose.  This  same  Fergusson  was  afterwards  appointed  to  a  public  office  through 
Wood's  influence.  Prominent  members  of  the  order  are  perfectly  familiar  with 
these  facts. 

It  is  also  asserted  by  good  authority,  that  he  became  a  member  of  the  order  in 
another  ward,  while  he  held  this  certificate  of  withdrawal  from  his  friend  Fergusson, 
a  member  of  the  order  in  the  22d  ward.  He  then  joined  the  Allen  branch  of  the 
order,  in  which  he  had  some  finends.  It  is  probably  a  fact  that  he  never  did  with- 
draw from  the  order,  but  merely  held  a  certificate  of  withdrawal,  obtained  in  the 
way  we  have  described.  Under  any  circumstances  of  the  case,  view  it  in  whatever 
light  we  may,  his  oath  was  intended  to  deceiva  The  certificate  of  withdrawal  that 
he  induced  Fergusson  to  give  him  was  obtained,  it  is  said,  after  ho  had  sworn 
ho  was  not  a  member. 

Such  is  a  sample  of  the  trickery  of  a  candidate  for  the  Mayoralty  of  this  city. 
What  high-minded  or  honorable  man  would  descend  to  such  mean  practices  ?  If 
he  withdrew  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving  those  who  insisted  that  tliey  could  not 
support  him,  unless  he  would  remove  the  prejudices  against  him  on  account  of  his 
supposed  membership  of  a  secret  order,  to  the  principles  of  which  they  were  op- 
posed, and  again  he  became  a  member,  the  fraud  is  still  worse. 

But  what  cares  Fernando  Wood  about  the  commission  of  perjury  ?  It  is  a  crime 
that  ho  is  familiar  with,  aa  we  have  shown  in  the  preceding  pages  of  this  pamph- 
let.   From  hia  very  boyhood  he  has  been  premeditating  fraud. 


A  DISGUSTING  STORY  ABOUT  A  C4.TH0LIC  PRIEST,  AS  TOLD  BY  OUE  "  MODEL  » 
MAYOR  AT  THE  MEETINGS  OF  THE  ORDER. 

"We  have  in  otu-  possession  two  affidavits  from  highly  respectable  citizens,  membeiB 
of  the  Know-Nothing  order,  from  which  it  appears  that  our  Mayor  was  quite  a 
"  spouter,"  at  the  meetings  of  the  order,  and  from  his  first  attendance  seemed  to 
be  particularly  desirous  to  show  his  utter  contempt  for  the  Irish,  and  more  specially 
for  the  Catliolic  priesthood.  He  invented,  no  doubt,  a  vulgar  story,  describing  a 
dirty  trick  he  once  played  upon  a  Catholic  priest  in  the  interior  of  Pensylvania,  and 
upon  a  poor  Irish  lady  who  gave  him  shelter  for  the  night 


THE  BANK  TRAHSACmON.  23 

It  appears  from  tMs  stoiy,  that  our  "model"  Mayor  was  travelling  on  foot  in 
the  interior  of  Pennsylvania,  and  had  become  much  fatigued,  as  night  approached. 
In  this  condition  he  visited  the  humble  cottage  of  an  Irish  woman,  at  whose 
house  there  lodged  for  that  night  a  Catholic  priest.  Young  "Wood  asked  for 
a  night's  entertainment,  when  the  woman  replied  that  she  had  but  one  spare  bed 
in  the  house,  and  that  was  occupied  by  a  CathoUc  priest.  She  eyed  him  closely, 
rather  regretted  that  she  could  not  accommodate  him,  as  he  appeared  much  exhaust- 
ed, and  there  was  no  pubHc  house  within  some  miles.  Her  humanity  finally 
induced  her  to  say  to  Mr,  "Wood,  that  if  he  would  occupy  the  same  bed  as  the  priest, 
he  might  be  accommodated.  He  very  cheerfully  consented,  and  entered  the  humble 
dwelling  of  the  Catholic  Irish  woman.  Like  most  rude  and  primitive  houses  in  the 
backwoods,  a  small  ladder  conducted  you  through  a  hole  in  the  ceiling  to  the 
chamber,  where  slept  the  priest,     "Wood  retired  to  bed. 

He  relates  what  then  happened,  which  is  entirely  too  disgusting  for  publication. 
Our  Mayor  says  he  had  an  urgent  call  to  get  up  and  go  out  in  the  night,  and  did 
not  hke  to  crawl  down  the  ladder,  or  to  alarm  the  woman  of  the  house.  So  he 
quietly  relieved  himself  by  drawing  towards  him  the  under  garment  of  the  priest. 
Li  the  morning  he  says  he  complained  bitterly  to  the  priest,  of  the  disagreeable 
condition  of  the  bed.  Appearances  indicated  that  the  priest  had  been  unfortunate, 
and  he  begged  of  his  companion  "Wood,  to  make  no  remarks  to  the  landlady,  but 
leave  that  to  him,  and  he  would  make  it  aU  right. 

This  disgusting  story,  purely  and  wholly  manufactured,  an  impudent  falsehood 
no  doubt.  Wood  related  with  such  embellishments  as  he  was  capable  of)  at  nearly 
all  the  meetings  of  the  Know-Nothings  he  attended.  He  told  the  story  from  the 
Battery  to  Hariem,  and  in  presence  of  hundreds  of  persons.  "We  have  the  affida- 
vits of  two  respectable  persons,  that  they  heard  him  tell  the  story  repeatedly. 
There  are  hundreds  who  could  make  a  similar  afiBdavit.  The  fact  is  indisputable. 
His  object  was  to  show  his  detestation  of  the  religion  of  the  Catholics,  and  showi 
if  he  was  elected  Mayor,  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions  of  the  truth  of  th© 
Know-Nothing  principles. 

But  a  few  days  after  he  last  related  this  vulgar  story  before  an  assembly  of 
Know-Nothings,  he  swore  that  he  was  not  a  member  of  the  order  I  "Was  there 
ever  a  greater  scamp  than  this  same  Fernando  "Wood  ?  If  it  had  been  true  as  he 
related  the  story,  he  was  a  disgusting  brute,  who  after  having  been  kindly  provided 
for  by  a  stranger,  put  to  bed  in  decent  company,  perpetrated  a  dirty  trick,  too 
filthy  for  description.  "We  scarcely  know  which  is  the  worst,  the  peijury,  or  the 
relation  of  the  disgusting  story.  Both  of  them  are  illustrative  of  the  true  charac- 
ter of  our  Mayor.  Reader,  this  is  the  man  who  swore  that  he  was  not  a  member 
of  the  order  of  Know-Nothings ! 


THE   BANK   TBANSACTION-A    $1750   FSAITD! 

The  history  of  this  case  is  one  well  calculated  to  show  the  true  character  of  Fer- 
nando "Wood  in  business  life.  The  atrocity  of  the  fraud  upon  the  Merchants'  Ex- 
change Bank  can  be  appreciated  by  business  men.  Simply  overdrawing  on  a  bank 
is  not  criminal  It  is  a  thing  very  frequently  done.  But  where  a  man  finds  that 
a  bank  has  placed  to  his  credit  a  large  amount  of  money  which  he  knows  he  never 
deposited,  and  he  draws  this  money  out  by  several  small  checks,  in  a  short  time^ 
and  then  closes  his  business  with  the  bank,  and  his  bank-books  and  check-books 
get  burned  up,  the  thing  looks  mysterious,  and  the  common  sense  of  the  world 
will  say  that  a  fraud  wa3  perpetrated. 

The  facts  in  this  case  are  simply  these :  In  April,  1836,  Fernando  "Wood  opened 
an  account  with  the  Merchants'  Exchange  Bank  of  this  city.  His  several  deposits 
in  the  bank  were  small,  varying  from  $96.88  to  $349.42.  He  never  bad  $400  in 
the  bank  at  any  one  time.  In  November,  some  seven  or  eight  months  after  he 
opened  his  bank  account,  a  clerk  of  the  bank,  through  a  mistake,  placed  to  Mr. 
"Wood's  credit  a  check  on  a  bank  in  Albany  for  $1750.62,  which  check  had  been 
deposited  by  Mr.  Charles  Yates  for  collection.  It  was  some  two  years  afterwards 
when  the  error  was  discovered  by  the  bank.  "When  discovered,  tlie  cashier  called 
on  Mr.  "Wood,  who  denied  owing  the  bank  any  thing,  but  admitted  that  the  check 


24  THK  BANK  TRANSACTION. 

for  $1760.62  was  not  his.  The  matter  was  by  ap"eement  referred  to  arbitration. 
D.  A.  Cushman,  Wm.  McMurray,  and  a  Mr.  Gilbert,  were  the  referees.  They 
agreed,  after  hearing  the  case,  that  Mr.  "Wood  owed  the  bank  $2,143.90,  which  was 
the  amount  of  the  above-mentioned  check,  with  interest  added. 

The  testimony  of  the  Cashier  of  the  Bank. — ^The  following  testimony  of  the  cashier 
of  the  bank  is  taken  from  the  notes  of  Wm.  Inglis,  who  was  Wood's  attorney  in  the 
case: 

"  I  had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Wood,  In  which  I  told  him  an  error  had  been  discovered  In  his 
bank  account,  which  broneht  him  In  debt  to  tho  bank  about  $1750.  lie  (Wood)  said  snch  an  error 
ooold  not  exist,  and  that  ne  could  not  be  Indebted  to  the  bank  In  that  sum.  I  said  it  occurred  by 
passing  to  hifl  crcllt  a  check  on  an  Albany  bank,  which  check  belonged  not  to  him,  but  to  another 
person  dolne  business  with  the  bank.  He  admitted  that  be  had  had  no  such  check  for  collection, 
out  repeated  that  be  owed  the  bank  nothing.  I  then  a&ked  him  for  his  bank-books  and  check- 
books. He  said  tbey  had  all  been  burned  up.  lie  appeared  surprised  at  the  statement  of  his 
overdrawlnsr,  and  referred  to  his  once  having  overdrawn  his  account  with  the  bank,  bat  wbea 
notifled  of  the  fact,  promptly  made  it  good." 

Such  is  the  testimony,  as  taken  down  by  Judge  Inglis,  who  was  "Wood's  counsel 
in  the  case.  "When  "Wood  was  a  candidate  for  Congress,  in  1 840,  he  was  charged 
with  this  bank  transaction,  and  he  applied  to  his  counsel,  Judge  Inglis,  for  a  state- 
ment of  the  case,  so  as  to  remove  the  unfavorable  impression  that  pervaded  the 
public  mind  in  relation  to  it.  Judge  Inglis,  no  doubt,  did  the  best  he  could  for  his 
chent  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

Mr.  Cushman,  one  of  the  referees,  published  the  following  card  in  relation  to  the 
subject: 

"  It  appeared  in  evidence  belbre  the  referees,  that  Mr.  Wood  kept  a  small  account  with  the  Mer- 
chants'Exchange  Bank,  fi-om  the  month  of  September,  (April  It  should  be,)  1886,  to  March,  1889, 
and  that  his  several  deposits  during  that  time  varied  from  196.88  to  $849.42;  that  in  the  month 
of  November,  18.36,  the  clerk  or  book-keeper  of  the  bank,  by  mistake,  posted  to  his  credit  a  check 
on  Albany,  for  $1,750.62,  which  had  been  deposited  by  Mr.  Charles  "Fates,  for  collection,  and  that 
before  the  error  was  discovered  by  tlie  bank.  Mr.  wood  drew  out  the  whole  of  that  amount  In 
small  checks  or  drafts,  varying  from  $.30  to  $2S7.50 — which  checks  or  drafts  were  produced  In 
evidence  before  the  referees,  to  tub  amount  of  thb  ceeditb  on  the  books  op  tbic  Bakk,  in- 

OI.CDIIIO  THE  CHECK    OF   $1,750.62,    BELO.NOINO   TO   Mn.    C.    YaTES. 

"  It  was  proved  before  the  referees,  that  when  the  Bank  discovered  the  error  In  posting  said 
check  to  Mr.  Wood's  account,  which  was  more  than  two  years  after  it  occurred,  the  Casuieb  of 
THK  Bank  galled  on  Mb.  Wood,  stated  to  him  the  fact  of  the  ovekdrakt  to  thk 
AMOtrsT  OF  toe  CHECK  IN  QUESTION,  and  requested  permission  to  look  at  his  (Wood's)  bank-book. 
Mr.  Wood  replied  that  his  bank-book  had  been  burned  up  at  a  flre  In  Washington  street.  He  ad- 
mitted to  the  cashier,  that  the  check  which  had  been  passed  to  his  credit,  through  the  error  of 
the  book-keeper,  did  not  belong  to  him,  but  a.sserted  that  the  mistake  must  have  occurred  in  some 
other  way,  and  that  he  owed  the  bank  nothing. 

"The  report  of  two  of  the  referees  (the  third  not  being  present  at  the  last  meetlng>  was  in  favor 
of  the  bank  to  the  amount  of  the  erroneous  credit  of  Mr.  Yates'  check,  which,  including  interest, 
was  $2,14a90.  D.  A.  CUblTMAN." 

Judge  Inglis  says  that  Mr.  Cushman  is  in  error  in  stating  that  "Wood's  connection 
with  the  bank  commenced  in  September,  1836.  It  was  in  April  of  that  year  when 
he  made  his  first  deposit.  "We  have  stated,  previously,  that  it  was  hi  April  when 
he  opened  an  account  with  the  bank.  The  error,  however,  is  not  material.  The 
referees  agreed  that  "Wood  owed  the  bank  the  amount  of  the  check  alluded  to, 
together  with  the  interest.  There  was  no  doubt  about  this  fact.  The  bank  pro- 
duced "Wood's  checks,  by  which  he  had  drawn  the  $1760  out  of  the  bank  in  small 
sums,  soon  after  which  he  closed  his  account  with  tlie  bank.  "Wood  admitted  that 
the  check  was  not  his,  but  insisted  that  he  owed  nothing  to  the  bank.  Though 
his  check-books  were  burned,  the  bank  had  his  checks  on  which  he  had  drawn  the 
money.  His  bank-book  was  also  burned,  or  not  produced,  so  that  he  had  nothing 
to  say,  except  that  he  owed  the  bank  no  money.  He  had  nothing  to  show  that 
he  ever  had  any  dealings  with  the  bank.  Of  course,  whether  his  bank-book  was 
burned  or  not,  he  knew  enough  not  to  exhibit  it  to  the  referees.  He  knew,  and 
every  one  of  the  referees  knew,  that  he  had  drawn  the  money,  and  of  course  his 
bank-book  would  have  shown  the  fact,  the  same  as  his  checks  did,  which  the  bank 
produced.  But  as  the  check  for  $1,750.62  deposited  by  Mr.  Tates,  did  not  belong 
to  "Wood,  the  moment  he  produced  his  bank-book,  in  which  he  was  credited  with 
that  check,  it  would  be  evident  to  all  that  he  was  cognizant  of  the  error,  and  that 
he  was  perpetrating  a  fraud  on  the  bank  whenever  he  drew  his  check  for  any  part 
of  that  money. 


DETAILED   SPECIFICATION   OF  FEAUDS.  25 

The  above  are  the  facts  m  this  somewhat  celebrated  case.  No  one  can  reason- 
ably doubt  that  Fernando  "Wood  knew  he  was  perpetrating  a  fraud  in  drawing  this 
$1,750.62  from  the  bank.  He  was  then  doing  a  small  business,  had  little  money, 
and  never  the  one  fourth  part  of  $1,100  in  the  bank  at  any  one  time.  So  he  never 
pretended  to  claim  that  he  deposited  that  amount,  or  such  a  check,  at  any  time. 
Of  course  he  knew  enough  not  to  claim  to  have  owned  such  a  check,  as  the  falsity 
of  such  a  claim  would  have  been  exposed  at  once.  To  lose  his  bank-book  was  the 
best  thing  that  could  happen  to  him.  That  fire  in  Washington  street  was  a  very 
fortunate  thing  for  him.  His  bank-book  was  not  necessary  to  show  that  he  had 
drawn  this  $1,750.62  from  the  bank,  as  his  checks  in  possession  of  the  bank  showed 
this  fact.  But  its  production  before  the  referees  would  have  shown  conclusively 
that  he  knew  he  was  defrauding  the  bank  in  drawing  this  money.  No  doubt  his 
bank-book  credited  him  with  this  amount,  and  he  knew  of  the  fraud  he  was  perpe- 
trating, but  the  fraud  would  have  appeared  more  glaring  had  his  bank-book  been 
shown. 

Truly,  the  entire  business  life  of  Fernando  Wood  furnishes  evidence  of  his  vil- 
lainies. Could  an  impartial  history  of  Mr.  Wood  be  written,  every  page  would 
contain  evidence  enough  to  consign  him  to  a  felon's  celL  Who  supposes  for  a  mo- 
ment that  his  bank-book  was  burned  ?  or  that  he,  who  never  had  had  $400  in  the 
bank  at  any  one  time,  was  ignorant  of  the  fraud  he  was  perpetrating  ?  The  man 
who  could  deliberately  forge  a  bill  of  sale  of  the  bark  John  W.  Cater,  or  the  T.  0. 
Larkin  letter,  or  who  oould  convert  a  bUl  of  75  cents  into  $100.75,  by  a  few  strokes 
of  the  pen,  and  thus  defraud  his  partner  in  business,  and  then  swear  that  he  had 
done  none  of  these  things,  could  easily  destroy  bis  bank-book. 


A   DET&HED    SFECinCATION   OF   SOME   OF   THE  MESCANTHE  FBAITDS 
OF   MAYOR   WOOD. 

The  following  will  show  the  various  modes  by  which  Fernando  Wood  managed 
to  rob  his  partner.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  purchasing  the  outfits  of  the  barque 
John  W.  Cater,  which  actually  cost  but  about  $1800,  he,  by  various  devices,  frauds, 
alterations  of  bills,  forging  bills  for  goods  never  purchased,  and  other  tricks  of  the 
trade  entirely  unknown  to  Groodhue  &  Co.,  Wm.  B.  Astor,  and  the  rest  of  the 
"twe>"tt-eight,"  who  urge  him  to  consent  to  a  reelection  to  the  Mayoralty,  lie 
managed  to  make  hia  partner  pay  the  entire  actual  cost  of  the  outfits. 

THE  PORK  FRAUD. 

Wood  rendered  his  partner  a  bUl  of  Howard  &  Wintringham  for  stores  amount- 
ing to  $4:30.66.  The  bill  included  thirty  barrels  of  pork  at  $10  a  barrel,  which 
were  not  shipped  or  used  on  the  said  barque  John  W.  Cater,  and  the  actual  amount 
of  money  paid  by  Wood  to  Howard  &  Wintringham  for  supplies  furnished  to,  and 
put  on  board,  said  vessel,  did  not  exceed  the  sum  of  $130.66. 

THE  LARD  FRAUD. 

Wood  rendered  a  bDl  of  John  R.  Woolsey  for  groceries  amounting  to  $35.87. 
This  bill  included  four  kegs  of  lard  not  shipped  or  used  on  said  barque,  amounting 
to  $28.70,  making  the  cash  actually  paid  by  Wood  for  said  groceries  actually  fur- 
rufihed  and  put  on  board  $7.17. 

THE  FISH  AND  OIL  FRAUD. 

Wood  rendered  another  bill  of  J.  R.  Woolsey,  for  fish  and  oil,  amounting  to 
$39.85.  Tliis  bill  included  thkty  gallons  of  oil  not  shipped  or  used  on  said  barque, 
amounting  to  $30,  making  the  amount  actually  paid  by  Wood  for  said  supplies 
$9.85. 


96  SPECIFIED  FRAUDS  IN  THE  CARGO  PURCHASE. 

THE  BEEF,  TONGUES,  PORTER,  CIDER  AND  ALE  FRAUD. 

"Wood  rendered  his  partner  a  bill  of  Benjamin  Hall  &  Co.,  for  stores,  consisting 
of  femily-bee^  tongues,  porter,  cider,  lard,  etc.,  amounting  to  $214.90,  no  part  of 
vrbioh.  was  shipped  or  used  on  said  barque. 

THE  FLOUR  AND  MEAT  FRAUD. 

Wood  rendered  his  partner  a  bill  of  C.  M.  Holcomb,  for  flour,  meat,  etc.,  amount- 
ing to  $14.75,  which  included  items  amounting  to  $8.25,  which  were  not  ^pped  on 
said  barque. 

FRAUDS  IN  THE  PURCHASE  OF  EGGS,  DUCKS,  TURKEYS,  OYSTERS, 
BEEF,  PORK,  AND  VEGETABLES. 

Wood  rendered  a  bill  of  J.  W.  Froam,  for  poultry,  etc.,  consisting  of  ducks,  tur- 
keys, eggs,  oysters,  fresh  beef  and  pork,  and  vegetables,  amounting  to  $54.50,  no 
part  of  which  was  shipped  or  used  on  said  barque. 

There  are  several  other  frauds  in  this  outfit  account,  all  of  which  were  proven 
conclusively.  It  is  astounding  to  see  how  he  contrived  to  crowd  into  the  account 
so  many  frauds  on  an  aggregate  purchase  of  less  than  $2000,  but  which  he  magni- 
fied to  near  $3600.  He  absolutely  perpetrated  a  fraud  in  about  every  bill  he  pur- 
chased. 


BOUE  OF  THE  FB&UDS  Ilf   THE  FITRCH&SE  OF  THE  C&BGO  SPECIFIED. 

Wood's  purchases  of  the  cargo  amounted,  according  to  the  bills  ho  rendered  his 
partner,  to  over  $7000,  as  we  have  before  stated.  But  the  actual  cost  of  his  pur- 
chases on  this  account  was  only  about  half  this  sum. 

Some  specimens  of  how  this  was  done  will  be  given. 

THE  CIGAR  FRAUD. 

Wood  said  lie  bought  of  Holt  &  Palmer  a  quantity  of  cigars,  and  represented  that 
he  had  agreed  to  pay  therefor  the  sum  of  $374.16,  and  produced  and  exhibited  to 
Marvine  a  paper  which  he.  Wood,  represented  to  be  the  bill  rendered  by  said  Holt 
&  Palmer  to  liim  therefor,  which  bill,  as  presented  by  Wood  to  Marvine,  correspond- 
ed with  the  representation.  After  the  biU  had  been  delivered,  Wood  fraudulently 
and  deceitfully  altered  it,  or  caused  it  to  be  altered,  by  inserting  in  a  line  thereof 
in  which  the  original  charge  was  "10  M  Palo  Alto  8  80,"  the  figure  1  before  the  8, 
BO  as  to  make  said  charge  $18  instead  of  $8  per  thousand ;  and  by  placing  the 
figure  1  before  the  extension  of  80,  so  as  to  make  the  extension  thereof  $180  ;  and 
by  altering  the  figure  2  at  the  footing  of  said  bill  into  the  figure  3,  so  aa  to  make 
the  footing  thereof  $374.15  instead  of  $274.15,  as  originally  rendered. 

THE  BROOM  FRAUD. 

Wood  said  he  bought  of  Taggart  &  Gray  100  dozen  brooms,  at  $1|  per  dozen, 
and  exhibited  to  Marvine  a  paper  purporting  to  be,  and  which  ho  represented  to 
be,  the  original  bill,  as  rendered  by  said  Taggart  &  Gray  to  him  for  said  purchase, 
which  bill,  aa  so  presented,  corresponded  with  and  sustained  the  representation  so 
made  by  Wood.  Marvine  discovered  that  said  brooms,  so  purchased,  were  bought 
by  Wood  at  $1-1  per  dozen,  and  that  the  original  bill  was  rendered  by  said  Taggart 
&  Gray  for  that  price,  but  that  after  the  delivery  thereof  by  them.  Wood  fraudulently 
and  deceitfully  altered,  or  caused  and  procured  the  said  bill  to  be  altered,  by  chang- 
ing the  price  from  $1|  to  1|  per  dozen,  and  the  extension  from  $137  to  $187. 

THE  PAPER  FRAUD. 

Wood  purchased  from  Cyrus  W.  Field  &  Co.,  a  quantity  of  paper,  amounting  to 
the  sum  of  $569.76,  and  exhibited  to  Marvine  a  paper  purporting  to  be,  and  which 


THE  EIGHT  TO   PUBLISH   THE  TESTIMONY.  27 

he  represented  to  be,  the  original  bill  thereof  as  rendered  by  said  Cyrus  "W.  Field 
&  Co.  for  said  purchase,  which  bill,  as  so  presented  by  Wood,  corresponded  with  the 
representation.  That  since  the  settlement  of  the  said  account  Marvine,  discovered 
that  "Wood  did  not  purchase  from  Cyrus  "W.  Field  &  Co.  paper  to  the  amount  so  re- 
presented by  him.  In  the  original  bill,  delivered  by  the  said  Cyrus  W.  Field  to 
him,  were  the  four  items  following : 

60  reams  white  plain  letter,  $lf,  $82  50 

60         do,  do.      do.     do.       82  50 

40  do.  cap      do.     do,       50  00 

40         do.  do.      do.    do.       50  00 

"Wood  fraudulently  and  deceitfully  altered,  or  procured  to  be  altered,  the  said 
bill,  so  as  to  make  the  price  of  each  of  the  sixty  reams  of  paper  mentioned  in  the 
first  two  items  above  stated,  the  sum  of  $2f  per  ream,  instead  of  $If,  and  the  ex- 
tensions thereof  to  be  $142.50,  instead  of  $82.50  respectively,  thus  adding  to  each 
of  said  items  the  sum  of  $60  ;  and  in  like  manner  further  fraudulently  and  deceit- 
rally  altered,  or  procured  to  be  altered,  the  said  bill,  so  as  to  make  the  price  of 
each  of  the  forty  reams  of  paper  mentioned  in  the  last  two  items  above  stated,  the 
sum  of  $lf  per  ream,  instead  of  $1^',  and  the  extensions  thereof  respectively  to  be 
$70  instead  of  $50,  thus  adding  to  each  of  the  said  last  two  items  the  sum  of 
$20 ;  and  by  fraudulently  and  deceitfully  altering,  or  procuring  to  be  altered,  the 
footing  of  said  bill  from  the  sum  of  $409.76  to  the  sum  of  $569.76. 

THE  TOBACCO  FRA.UD, 

Wood  bought  from  James  Hunter  &  Co,,  a  quantity  of  tobacco  to  the  amount  of 
$504.35,  and  exhibited  to  Marvine  a  paper  purporting  to  be  the  original  bill  of  said 
■purchase,  as  rendered  to  him  by  said  James  Hunter  &  Co.,  which  bill,  as  so  repre- 
wnted,  corresponded  with  the  representation.  Wood  fraudulently  and  deceitfully 
Utered  the  bill  so  as  to  make  the  price  ll^c.  per  pound,  instead  of  9c.,  and  the 
extension  thereof,  $471.38  instead  of  $368.91,  as  in  the  original  invoice,  and  by 
tltering  in  like  manner  the  footing  thereof  from  $401.56  to  $504.03. 

THE  OIL  AND  GLASS  FRAUD. 

Wood  bought  from  Wm.  E.  Lawrence,  a  quantity  of  glass  and  linseed  oil,  amount- 
ing to  the  sum  of  $825.11,  and  exhibited  to  Marvine  a  paper  purporting  to  be  the 
original  bill  of  the  said  William  E.  Lawrence  delivered  to  him  therefor.  Wood 
fraudulently  and  deceitfully  altered  the  said  bill  by  making  the  discount  upon  the 
said  glass  10  per  cent  instead  of  30  per  cent,  and  by  fraudulently  altering  the  ex- 
tension thereof  and  the  footing  of  said  bill,  so  as  to  make  the  aggregate  thereof  the 
sum  of  $825,11  instead  of  $589,11. 

THE  FRAUD  IN  MATCHES. 

Wood  said  he  had  paid  to  Charles  Partridge  $526.24  for  a  quantity  of  matches; 
that  said  Partridge  made  at  the  same  time,  by  the  said  barque  John  W,  Cater,  a  ship- 
ment on  his  own  private  account,  valued  at  $2,000,  and  Wood  charged  said  Partridge 
$100  for  insurance  on  his  said  goods,  and  deducted  said  sum  from  the  amount  of 
said  bill  for  $526.24.  Wood  did  not  insure  the  said  cargo,  nor  pay  any  sum  there- 
for, and  did  not  pay  to  said  Partridge  any  greater  sum  than  $426,24  for  said 
matches. 


THE  MGHT  TO  PUBLISH  THE  TESTIMONY  IN  THE  MARVINE  AND 
WOOD  CASE-AN  INJUNCTION  SUED  OUT  BY  WOOD,  AND  DISSOLVED 
BY   THE   COURT. 

Our  "model"  Mayor,  two  years  ago,  fearing  that  the  testimony  in  this  case 
would  find  its  way  in  the  public  prints,  and  thus  injure  him  at  the  polls,  sued  out 
an  injunction  to  restrain  the  publication  of  the  testimony  before  the  referees. 

The  following  is  the  decision  of  Judges  Duer  and  Oakley,  dissolving  the  injunc- 


28  CONCLUSION. 

Judge  Dner:  "  SltUng  as  a  Jadge,  I  am  satisfied  that  I  have  no  power  to  conUnne  this  Injano- 
tion.  I  <lo  not  believe  that  a  Court  of  Equity  tias  ever  attempte4l  to  restrain  tlie  publication  of 
the  pr<K;ee<llng8  in  a  pendlni;  action  at  law,  either  npon  the  groands  set  forth  in  this  complaint,  or 
upon  any  other.  Nor  do  I  believe  that,  had  the  jurisdiction  ever  been  claimed,  the  courts  of  law 
would  have  submitted  to  its  exercise.  It  would  have  been  regarded  and  reslstc-d  as  manifest  nsor- 
paiion  of  power.  It  is  the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  Court  in  which  the  action  Is  pending  to  de- 
termine whether  for  any  reason  the  publication  of  the  proceedings  onght  to  be  forbidden ;  and 
where  the  publication  is  deemed  to  be  necessary  or  proper,  it  can  only  De  regularly  made  by  an 
order  in  the  cause.  The  case  Is  not  altered  by  the  fact  that  the  action  Is  pending  In  this  Court, 
which  Is  now  a  Court  of  Equity,  as  well  as  of  law,  for  the  Code  has  certainly  not  enlarged 
the  equitable  Jurisdiction  which  it  has  given.  It  has  given  us  no  power  to  grant  any  other 
relief  upon  a  complaint  than  that  the  Court  of  Chancery  could  have  formerly  granted  upon  a  bill. 
If  the  plaintiff  Is  entitled  to  the  relief  which  he  asks,  ho  must  seek  it  by  a  petition  or  motion  in 
the  action  In  which  he  is  defendant    lie  has  mistaken  his  remedy  in  filing  this  complaint 

"  The  motion  to  continue  the  injunction  is  denied,  and  the  injunction  heretofore  ^tnted  Is  dis- 
solved." 

Oakley,  Chief- Joatlco,  concorred.    L.  B.  Shepard,  for  plaintiff.    James  T.  Brady,  for  defendant 

Thtis  it  will  be  seen  that  otir  courts  will  not  favor  the  idea  that  a  knowledge  of 
a  man's  crimes  shall  bo  hidden  from  the  public.  The  right  to  publish  the  testi- 
mony includes  the  right  to  make  such  comments  on  it  as  truth  and  the  pubUc  in- 
terest require.  The  community  must  be  protected  against  the  villainy  of  its  mem- 
bers, even  though  they  never  aspire  to  pubUc  honors,  or  high  official  positions^ 
But  when  those  who  have  shown  themselves  bold  and  audacious  in  crime  seek  high 
places  of  power,  patronage,  and  emolument,  it  becomes  an  important  duty  of  the 
public  press  to  hold  them  up  to  the  public  gaze  in  all  the  blackness  of  their  true 
cbaractera. 

CONCLUSION. 

And  now,  fellow  citizens  of  the  city  and  county  of  New- York,  we  ask  you  in 
sober  seriousness  whether  there  was  ever  before  presented  to  your  notice  a  mass  of 
evidence  so  complete,  so  consecutive,  so  unanswerable,  and  so  conclusive,  as  has 
been  laid  naked  for  your  perusal  and  verdict  in  the  preceding  pages.  If  ever  there 
existed  a  criminal  whose  coolness  surpassed  his  crimes,  it  is  the  hero  of  these 
pages.  If  ever  there  lived  a  culprit  whose  callousness  exceeded  his  criminality,  it 
is  our  "  model  Mayor."  His  villanies  have  been  as  clearly  proven,  and  as  im- 
mistakably  demonstrated,  as  the  clearest  theorem  in  geometry.  Fernando  "Wood 
has  been  a  depredator  in  the  bank,  in  the  counting-house,  at  the  merchant's  desk, 
and  in  the  Mayoralty  chair. 

On  land  and  on  water  he  has  proved  himself  a  merciless  Shylock  and  shark.  He 
has  filled  his  purse  by  the  vilest  means,  and  from  the  blackest  resources.  The  barque 
J.  W.  Cater  was  freighted  with  the  crimes  of  this  practised  tactician  in  the  vocations 
of  villainy  and  fraud ;  and  it  is  a  miracle  how  that  barque  escaped  being  engulfed 
by  the  weight  of  crime  which  hung  aroimd  and  about  her  foully-obtained  freight  I 
What  a  man  to  be  selected  for  the  chief  magistracy  of  a  great  commercial  city  I 
What  recklessness  could  prompt  a  community  to  listen  for  a  moment  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  any  man,  or  body  of  men,  to  reelect  a  stamped  plimderer  and  an  acknow- 
ledged perjurer  to  the  Mayoralty  chair  ?  What  blindness  could  have  seized  any 
party,  however  reckless  and  desperate  may  be  its  fortunes,  to  think  that  the  peo- 
ple could  endorse  such  a  nominee  for  Mayor?  What  venality  could  induce  any 
newspaper  press,  no  matter  to  what  depths  of  political  degradation  it  may  have  be- 
fore then  sotmded,  to  attempt  to  pawn  such  an  excrescence  upon  an  outraged  peo- 
ple as  this  hero  of  a  hundred  perjtiries  and  forgeries?  If  we  were  to  seek  in  our 
State  prison,  or  even  to  ransack  the  dreary  regions  below,  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  we  could  find  a  candidate  for  public  favor  better  adapted  to  plunder  the 
tax-payers  than  this  model  swindler,  this  accomplished  forger  and  classic  perjurer— 
our  "  model"  Mayor  I 

It  would  be  a  sad  commentary  upon  the  intelligence  and  integrity  of  our  people 
should  the  returns  of  the  next  election  announce  the  victory  of  Fernando  Wood. 

It  will  generally  be  admitted  that  a  man  who  will  defraud  a  partner  in  business— 
who  will  make  false  representations  to  another  to  induce  him  to  enter  into  a  part- 
nership— who  will  prepare  false,  simulated,  or  forged  papers  and  letters  relating  to 
the  business  of  the  partnership,  and  thereby  induce  another  to  invest  large  sum* 
of  money  for  their  joint  advantage — who  will,  after  this  fraud  and  deception  haa 
been  practised,  continue  to  perpetrate  other  frauds  in  the  purchase  of  goods  to  a 
large  amount,  and  render  fraudulent  bills  to  his  partner,  in  which  the  quantity  of 


CONCLUSION.  29 

the  articles  purchased,  and  the  prices  paid  for  them,  are  greater  than  the  true  bills 
of  purchase  show,  and  then  obtain  from  his  partner  the  one  half  of  the  aggregate 
of  the  fraudulent  prices — who  will,  when  fearing  detection,  call  upon  the  merchants 
fix)m  whom  he  purchased,  and  endeavor  to  prevail  upon  them  to  alter  their  bills, 
and  make  them  more  in  amount  than  he  actually  paid  them,  and  request  them  to 
hand  these  new  and  fraudulent  bills  to  any  one  who  might  call  to  inquire  into  the 
matter — ^and  who  will,  in  every  transaction  relating  to  the  partnership  business, 
defraud  and  deceive  his  partner ;  we  say  it  wiU  be  generally  admitted  that  such  a 
man  is  a  dangerous  member  of  society,  a  desperate  and  unmitigated  villain,  totally 
devoid  of  honorable  principle,  and  preeminently  unfit  for  high  and  honorable  pub- 
lic station.  No  honorable  man  of  any  party  would  give  such  a  person  his  vote  for 
the  Mayoralty. 

It  requhes  the  strongest  kind  of  testimony  to  satisfy  the  minds  of  our  people 
that  such  bold  and  systematic  frauds  could  be  perpetrated  by  one  partner  upon  an- 
other. Many  wUl  not  believe  that  human  nature  can  be  so  degraded  as  to  have 
perpetrated  so  many  frauds,  and  of  so  gross  a  character,  throughout  the  entire 
business  of  a  partnership. 

But  when  the  allegations  of  fraud  are  clearly  shown  by  testimony  as  strong  and 
conclusive  as  any  that  ever  was  given  in  a  court  of  justice,  then  it  becomes  a  mat- 
ter of  serious  consideration  for  every  good  member  of  society.  If  circumstances 
should  place  such  an  individual  before  the  community  for  their  sufifrages,  for  the 
highest  office  in  their  gift,  then  his  character  becomes  a  proper  subject  for  dis- 
cussion. 

This  candidate  is  Fernando  Wood.  There  is  the  strongest  possible  proof  that 
Mr.  Wood  has  been  guilty  of  all  the  fraudulent  practices  we  have  alluded  to,  and  is 
a  person  totally  unfit  for  public  station,  and  unworthy  of  the  pubhc  confidence. 

In  the  whole  history  of  mercantile  life  and  business,  we  do  not  know  where  to 
look  for  a  parallel  to  this  in  the  atrocity  of  its  'frauds.  No  Htigated  case  of  part- 
nership that  we  have  ever  heard  of  shows  such  consummate  and  systematic  decep- 
tion.    The  recital  should  put  shamelessness  itself  to  the  blush. 

The  whole  case  is  one  of  extreme  interest  to  the  pubUc,  and  it  is  every  man's 
duty  to  examine  into  it  It  may  be  painful  to  our  moral  feelings  to  be  convinced 
that  a  nominee  for  the  Mayoralty  stands  thus  disgraced ;  but  we  must  remember 
that  the  elevation  to  office  of  such  a  man  would  extend  the  odium  to  all  who  par- 
ticipate in  our  elections.  Better  that  Mr.  Wood  alone  should  suffer  the  loss  of  bis  . 
reputation,  and  our  city  government  be  freed  from  such  an  executive  head,  than 
our  whole  people  should  be  disgraced  along  with  him. 

There  seems  to  have  been  on  the  part  of  Wood  a  preconcerted  and  villainous 
duplicity  throughout  the  entire  business  of  the  Marvine  partnership.  This  arch- 
scoundrel  and  unscrupulous  scamp,  committed  the  most  outrageous  frauds  that  are 
known  to  the  history  of  mercantile  crimes.  The  meanest  and  most  matured  plans 
were  laid  by  him  for  a  wholesale  plunder  of  his  partner.  His  whole  talents  seemed 
to  be  employed  to  see  how  much  he  could  plunder  on  the  purchases  he  made.  He 
never  purchased  a  bill  of  goods  but  what  He  perpetrated  a  fraud.  He  would  en- 
deavor to  induce  the  merchant  who  sold  him  to  charge  a  high  price,  so  that  h' 
could  deduct  some  30  or  40  per  cent  for  cash,  and  then  alter  the  bill  by  changlDg 
the  30  or  40  per  cent  into  10  per  cent  If  he  could  not  succeed  in  this,  he  would 
alter  the  prices  in  the  bill,  increase  the  quantity  bought,  or  insert  in  the  bill  articles 
never  purchased.  By  these  means  about  every  bill  he  handed  to  *js  partner  for 
goods,  etc.,  purchased  by  him,  contained  three  or  four  fraudulent  alterations,  or 
forgeries. 

This  man  Wood  has  contrived  to  get  the  endorsement  of  a  few  wealthy  mer- 
chants. If  these  men  imagine  that  they  wiU  control  to  any  great  extent  the  voters 
of  this  city,  they  are  deluded.  They  may  have  power  over  the  money-bags,  but 
not  over  the  minds  and  consciences  of  the  people.  Reelect  Fernando  Wood,  and 
you  will  prove  that  the  way  to  reach  eminence  and  power  is  by  perfidy,  robbery, 
perjury,  and  fraud.  Reelect  him,  and  you  throw  the  city  in  the  hands  of  an  un- 
scrupulous ruffian,  whose  tools  and  friends  will  be  those  who  will  divide  with  him 
the  profits  of  the  gambUng,  lottery,  and  policy  shops  of  our  city. 

In  his  recent  nomination  for  the  mayoralty  he  brought  to  his  aid  the  police  de- 
partment, and  used  the  whole  power  of  his  position  to  effect  it.    Immediately  after 


30  CONCLUSION, 

his  defeat  in  his  aspirations  for  the  office  of  Governor,  he  oriyanized  an  association, 
of  which  the  members  were  bound  to  secrecy,  having  for  its  object  his  renomination, 
to  the  ofBce  of  mayor.  To  this  association  various  members  of  the  poUce  depart- 
ment were  attached,  in  violation  of  the  rule  of  that  department,  which  forbids  them 
to  be  members  of  any  political  organization.  The  immediate  purpose  of  this  secret 
organization  was  to  control  the  general  committee,  and  to  place  tiie  primary  elec- 
tions in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Wood,  by  the  selection  of  those  persons  for  inspectors 
who  were  committed  to  return  a  ticket  favorable  to  his  re-nomination,  whether  it 
should  be  elected  or  not. 

"  Having  made  these  arrangements,  ho  procured  the  majority  of  the  general 
committee  to  adopt  a  rule  by  which  himself  and  Daniel  E.  Sickles  could  come  into 
that  committee  by  substitution,  and  took  his  seat  side  by  side  with  members  of  the 
police  department  who  were  there,  as  we  have  said,  in  violation  of  the  rules  and 
regulations  of  that  department,  and  who  obeyed  his  dictation  in  the  votes  they 
gave  while  there,  and  under  his  political  command.  Having  thus  become  a  mem- 
ber of  the  general  committee,  he  proceeded  to  get  through  that  body  a  plan  of  elec- 
tions which  should  place  every  nomination  in  the  city,  whether  for  mayor,  city 
judge,  alderman,  or  councilman,  member  of  Congress  or  other  officer,  entirely  at 
his  disposal.  "We  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  set  forth  here  the  monstrous  evils 
which  must  spring  from  the  conversion  of  the  police  department  into  a  mere  politi- 
cal machine  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  personal  aims  of  an  individual  so  reckless 
and  unscrupulous  as  the  present  Mayor. 

This  business  having  been  done,  he  himself  moved  his  plan  of  primary  elections. 
It  was  to  the  effect  that  the  inspectors  of  elections  should  be  appointed  in  each 
ward  by  a  majority  of  the  delegates  from  that  ward,  and  that  in  those  wards 
where  there  was  no  agreement,  they  should  be  appointed  by  a  committee,  to  con- 
sist of  Fernando  "Wood  and  a  majority  of  his  friends.  The  majority  of  this  com- 
mittee belonged  to  the  secret  organization  to  which  reference  has  been  made :  and 
tlie  plan  was  adopted  by  the  votes  of  that  organization,  together  with  the  votes  of 
a  few  others  who  sought  to  save  themselves  in  their  own  wards  by  yielding  to 
the  current.  Every  member  of  the  police  department  present  in  committee  voted  with 
Mr.  Wood  in  its  favor. 

The  Committee  of  Organization  met ;  Mr.  Wood  moved  Mr.  Sickles  into  the  chair ; 
he  moved  inspectors  in  all  the  wards  in  which  no  agreement  had  been  had,  and 
'  but  one  single  inspector  was  appointed  who  was  not  known  to  be  in  his  interest 

And  to  crown  all,  and  deprive  this  stupendous  fraud  of  even  the  pretext  of  regu- 
larity, the  delegates  thus  chosen  assembled  at  the  Mayor's  house  the  following 
Sunday,  and  resolved  to  take  possession  of  the  room  of  the  Convention  at  Tammany 
Hall. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  singular  men  in  the 
community.  The  philosopher  asserts  that  each  individual  has  certain  marked  pe- 
culiarities of  mind  and  morals,  which  distinguish  liim  as  positively  from  every 
other  man  as  does  the  peculiar  features  of  the  face.  Each  man  exhibits  a  group 
of  distinctive  traits  belonging  to  the  mind  or  heart,  and  which  are  the  offspring  of 
some  natural  tendency,  or  are  the  result  of  his  education.  Fernando  Wood  is  in- 
nately prone  to  dishonesty.  His  whole  business  life  shows  him  in  the  capacity  of 
an  artful  knave,  who  loves  money  for  the  power  it  confers,  but  who  prefers  to  get 
it  by  fraud,  '•ather  than  by  honorable,  upright  dealing.  Whether  as  a  merchant  or 
a  politician,  h3  always  operates  secretly.  His  great  desire  to  be  Mayor  of  this  city 
grew  out  of  a  supposition  that  the  office  would  make  him  acquainted  with  all  the 
schemes  resorted  to  by  the  bold  and  lawless  to  plunder  the  community.  No  gam- 
blmg-house,  from  the  lowest  crib  to  the  most  splendid  establishment  in  the  city, 
will  ever  be  interfered  with  by  him,  so  long  as  they  divide  the  profits  with  the 
Mayor  or  his  friends,  who  are  believed  by  many  to  derive  a  pecuniary  interest  from 
the  vocation.  It  is  quite  certain  that  no  establishment  of  the  kind  can  flourish  in 
this  city  unless  his  friends  share  the  plunder.  And  it  is  generally  admitted  in  the 
fraternity  of  gamblers,  that  some  of  the  Wood  family  must  share  the  profits,  or  they 
will  be  broken  up. 

Wood  possesses  considerable  power  in  prevailing  on  others,  men  of  integrity,  to 
render  him  their  political  support.  At  the  time  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  Mayor- 
alty, two  years  ago,  he  was  frequently  known  to  shed  tears  in  company  with  tiiose 


CONT3LU8ION.  31 

whose  support  he  knew  to  be  unportant.  He  solemnly  asserted  to  them  that  he 
wanted  to  be  Mayor  so  as  to  redeem  his  reputation.  But  no  sooner  in  oflSce  than 
we  find  him  prostituting  the  position  to  protect  all  the  polluted  and  hellish  practices 
which  exist  in  the  city.  He  has  been  charged  with  the  practice  of  knavery  in  all 
the  relations  of  life — of  having  defrauded  friend  and  partner  m  business — of  being 
a  sharer  in  the  plunder  of  the  most  lucrative  illegal  gambling  transactions 
practised  in  the  city.  He  is  bold  in  all  this  crime.  He  moralizes  against  it  in 
his  pubUc  messj^es,  and  then  retires  to  count  over  the  profits  he  has  realized  from 
the  illegal  and  swindling  business.  He  who  can  fraudulently  convert  a  bill  of  75 
cents  into  one  of  $100.75,  can  not  give  character  to  a  great  commercial  city,  by  be- 
ing elevated  to  the  Mayoralty.  "We  have  State-prisons  for  the  reformation  of  cri- 
minals, and  the  office  of  Mayor  was  never  intended  as  a  position  in  which  crime 
could  be  atoned  for,  or  a  villainous  reputation  whitewashed  into  purity.  If  the 
theory  is  sound  that  we  should  seek  to  convert  our  most  adroit  swindlers  and  forg- 
ers to  honest,  upright  citizens,  by  giving  them  high  civil  positions,  then  we  should 
expect  the  several  parties  to  nominate  candidates  who  resided  within  the  walls  of 
our  prisons.  Sincere  repentance  for  past  crimes  does  not  require  to  emanate  from 
the  Mayor's  office  in  the  City  HalL  It  can  be  better  had  in  the  quiet  closet,  and 
by  an  altered  life  in  business.  Once  establish  the  practice  of  elevating  our  worst 
men  to  office,  and  you  offer  a  bounty  on  criminaUty.  If  we  elect  a  Mayor  whose 
reputation  for  integrity  and  rascahty  is  notoriously  bad,  by  the  same  reasoning  we 
should  expect  him  to  fill  all  the  offices  in  his  gift  with  the  same  class  of  persons. 
This  rule  would  bring  the  vile  and  infamous  into  public  place,  and  morality,  law, 
and  common  decency  would  be  violated  in  every  department  of  the  city  govern- 
ment. "We  doubt  whether  the  oldest  resident  of  this  city  can  caU  to  mind  a  period 
of  time  when  there  was  greater  demoralization  in  our  city  government.  Wood  has 
boldly  assumed  doubtful  powers,  and  controls  nearly  every  department  of  the  city. 
To  him,  therefore,  must  be  attributed  the  evils  complained  of. 

It  can  scarcely  be  possible  that  any  man  who  attentively  peruses  a  history  of  his 
frauds  wiU  aid  in  his  reelection.  "We  think  it  may  be  assumed  that  he  must  be  de- 
feated. But  his  defeat  must  be  the  work  of  those  who  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the 
reputation  of  our  city,  and  who  prefer  an  honest  administration  of  the  government. 
His  saintly  hypocrisy  has  been  unveiled ;  the  gauze  that  covered  it  has  been  re- 
moved. The  honest  portion  of  the  public  now  see  Fernando  "Wood  in  the  Ught  of  a 
plunderer.  His  commendable  acts  when  first  elected  Mayor,  have  all  become  ob- 
solete. His  absolute  indifference  to  public  morals,  if  he  does  not  absolutely  encour- 
age crime  and  vice,  is  so  perceptible  that  it  can  not  be  mistaken  for  honest  inten- 
tion. The  Joseph  "Walker  swindle  developed  his  true  aim,  as  soon  as  he  had 
got  fairly  seated  in  the  Mayor's  chair.  He  opened  his  complaint-book  merely  to 
see  where  the  plunder  was,  and  when  he  found  it,  he  seized  upon  it  with  avidity.  He 
looks  up  his  old  friend  Jones,  to  whom  he  once  wanted  to  have  the  Marvine  mat- 
ters referred,  and  in  haste  proposes  a  contract  to  rob  the  city  treasury  of  $13,000. 
When  the  fraud  is  detected,  Wood  swears  before  the  committee  that  he  will  in- 
demnify the  city  for  the  loss  growing  out  of  the  contract.  He  swore  he  would  pay 
the  damages  out  of  his  own  pocket.  He  has  not  yet  made  his  oath  good,  nor  does 
any  one  suppose  he  ever  intended  to.  He  who  could  swear  that  he  never  present- 
ed a  forged  bill  of  sale,  a  forged  letter,  or  fraudulently  altered,  or  caused  to  be  al- 
tered, a  score  of  bills  aud  vouchers,  would  not  hesitate  to  swear  that  he  would  pay 
all  the  damages  that  the  city  incurred  by  his  rascality.  That  he  did,  without  any 
authority,  reach  out  his  polluted  hand  and  dip  it  into  the  treasury-box  of  the  city, 
and  plunder  it  of  the  $7500  which  Jones  got,  and  which  he  probably  divided, 
thero  is  no  more  doubt  than  there  is  that  we  have  so  stated  it.  To  look  at  this 
man,  Wood,  in  all  the  attitudes  of  life,  as  a  merchant,  a  pohtician,  or  Mayor  of  the 
city,  the  heart  sickens  at  the  corruption  evinced  in  his  nature,  and  warns  us  that 
we  must  as  a  people,  be  more  cautious  in  the  exercise  of  the  franchise,  if  we  would 
preserve  the  reputation  of  our  city. 


A   FIVE   UUNDBED   DOLL&B    SALE. 

The  following,  though  not  strictly  in  the  line  of  the  biography  of  our  Mayor,  may 
be  appropriately  appended  to  this  number,  as  serving  to  show  th»  reader  the  deep 

26U940 


32 


CONCLUSION. 


interest  manifested  in  this  biographical  sketch.  I  imdoretood  from  a  prominent 
citizen  that  certain  parties  were  desirous  to  purchase  the  manuscript  of  this  num- 
ber. I  was  told  that  if  I  would  step  into  Delmonico's  at  a  partictilar  hour  of  the 
day,  I  would  meet  a  person  who  would  pay  $500  for  the  maniiscript.  1  called  at 
the  hour  stated,  and  saw  CoL  Alexander  Sling,  Chief  Clerk  to  the  Mayor,  "Wm.  M. 
Cooke,  Private  Secretary  to  his  Honor,  and  Chas.  M.  Fletcher,-  the  special  friend  of 
the  Mayor,  and  a  perfect  gentleman.  Observing  this  trio  in  close  conversation  in 
A  <ymor  of  the  bar-room,  I  very  naturally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were 
the  intended  purchasers  of  the  important  documents  in  my  possession.  This  sup- 
position was  soon  proved  correct  Mr.  Cooke,  one  of  the  party,  politely  addressed 
me  with  a  countenance  as  smiling  as  one  of  the  Rothschilds  or  Stephen  Girard, 
when  they  anticipated  they  saw  before  them  a  customer  with  whom  a  good  bar- 
gain could  be  struck.  He  invited  me  to  a  little  close  conversation  ia.  a  private 
room  up  stairs,  in  which  was  a  large  centre-table,  apparently  used  for  purposes  of  a 
little  social  gambling,  for  mere  amusement — a  recreation  which  the  Mayor,  nor  his 
clerks  or  secretaries,  have  no  right  to  interfere  with.  Friend  Fletcher  accompanied 
us  to  this  pinnacle  apartment,  and  CoL  Ming  did  not,  but,  we  suppose,  remained  in 
front  of  the  building  as  a  guard,  that  no  intruder  should  be  permitted  to  enter  and 
interfere  with  certain  contemplated  arrangements,  which  he,  of  course,  knew,  or, 
at  least,  expected.  Would  be  soon  consummated,  when  he  could  report  progress  to 
his  Honor,  who,  no  doubt,  was  waiting  in  a  state  of  perturbation  of  mind  to  hear 
the  result  of  the  speculation. 

After  wo  were  seated,  Mr.  Cooke  said : 

"  I  suppose  you  are  aware  of  the  nature  of  my  business  with  you  ?" 

"  I  suppose  I  am,"  said  I. 

"I  have,"  said  he,  "  $500  for  you,  if  you  deliver  to  me  a  certain  manuscript,  and 
sign  this  paper."  (Unfolding  the  following  agreement.) 

I  read  the  document,  suggested  some  alterations,  and  appended  to  it  the  conclud- 
ing paragraph.  The  changes  made  were  assented  to,  the  paper  was  executed,  and 
the  money  paid,  in  good  notes  of  our  city  banks ;  not  one  of  which  was  issued  by 
the  Shoe  &  Leather  concern,  in  which  the  funds  of  the  city  are  kept.  This  being 
done,  the  party  dispersed  quietly,  and  all  in  good  himior. 

Upon  mature  reflection,  and  by  the  advice  of  counsel,  I  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  biography  of  our  Mayor  ought  to  be  published,  and  if  in  so  doing  tlio 
following  agreemeut  is  violated,  I  am  ready  to  pay  to  "Wm.  M.  Cooke,  or  to  any  per- 
son he  may  name,  $500,  so  soon  as  he  establishes  before  any  tribunal  of  justice  in 
the  United  States  that  the  agreement  has  been  violated,  or  that  he  is  entitled  to 
recover. 

Gorr  OF  Aoebkmbnt  entbeed  into  between  Wm.  M.  Cooke,  the  Matob's  Privatb  Bkcbx- 

TABY,   AND  TUE  ADTHOE  OP  THIS  BlOGEAPUT,   IN   PBESBNCE   OP   CIIA8.    M.    FLETOIIEB. 

For  and  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  flvo  hundred  dollars  to  me  in  hand  paid  b^  William  M. 
Cooko  oithe  City  of  New- York,  the  receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  I,  Abijah  Ingraham, 
of  said  City,  do  hereby  bind  myself,  and  solemnly  pledge  my  honor  as  a  man,  not  to  violate  ot 
break,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  the  following  agreements  hereby  entered  into  by  me: 

I  hereby  iH-Tco  that  a  certain  manuscript  written  by  myself  relative  to  the  Hon.  Fernando  Wood, 
andvilch  said  manuscript,  on  the  payment  of  the  above-mentioned  sum,  1  have  delivered  to  the 
said  William  M.  Cooke  in  full,  shall  not  be  published  in  any  newspaper,  periodical,  magazine, 
pamphlet,  or  book,  issued  in  this  city  or  elsewhere.  I  also  do  declare  that  I  have  no  copy  of  said 
manuscript  in  my  possession,  and  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief,  state  that  no  other  per- 
son or  persons  have  any  copy  or  copies  of  the  8am& 

I  also  agree  for  and  in  consideration  of  the  said  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars,  not  to  write  or 
cause  to  be  written  or  published,  or  be  concerned  in  the  publication  of  any  article  or  articles,  or 
matter  of  any  description,  reflecting  In  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  upon  the  Hon.  Fernando 
Wood,  previous  to  the  general  election  in  New-York  in  November,  1S56. 

I  also  agree  that  should  the  above  conditions  be  violated  by  me,  to  pay  back  to  the  said  William 
M.  Cooke  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  paid  to  mo  by  him,  and  in  the  event  of  my  refusing  tc 
do  so,  the  said  William  M.  Cooke  shall  have  ample  remedy  by  recourse  to  legal  proceedings  in  any 
court  in  the  United  Slates,  to  compel  the  payment  of  the  same  on  satisfactorv  proof  being  adduced 
that  an  J  of  the  ahove  conditions  have  been  violated  by  me,  or  that  I  have  broken  faith  with  Uie 
said  William  M.  Cooke,  contrary  to  the  foregoing  stipulations. 

If  the  manuscript  now  delivered  to  the  said  William  M.  Cooke  should  hereafter  be  published,  I, 
Abijah  Ingraham,  shall  be  entitled  to  the  profits  arising  ftom  said  publication. 

ABIJAH  INGRAHAM. 

I  oertlfy  that  this  la  >  true  copy  of  the  original  delivered  to  Wm.  M.  Cooke,  In  the  presence  of 

0.  FLETOUEE. 
Dated  Sept  28, 185«,  Bt  the  Ci^  <tf  NawYwk. 


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